Marx And Nietzsche Essay Summary Example For Students

Marx And Nietzsche Essay Summary Society is flawed. There are critical imbalances in it that cause much of humanity to suffer. In, the most interesting work from this past half-semester, The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx is reacting to this fact by describing his vision of a perfectly balanced society, a communist society. Simply put, a communist society is one where all property is held in common. No one person has more than the other, but rather everyone shares in the fruits of their labors. Marx is writing of this society because, he believes it to be the best form of society possible. He states that communism creates the correct balance between the needs of the individual and the needs of society. And furthermore thinks that sometimes violence is necessary to reach the state of communism. This paper will reflect upon these two topics: the relationship of the individual and society, and the issue of violence, as each is portrayed in the manifesto. Before expounding upon these ideas, it is necessary to establish a baseline from which to view these topics. It is important to realize that we as humans view everything from our own cultural perspective. Marx speaks of this saying, Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class made into a law for all, a will, whose essential character and direction are determined by the economical conditions of existence of your class. With this in mind, some perspective on the society of that time is vital. During this time the industrial revolution is taking place, a massive movement away from small farms, businesses operated out of homes, small shops on the corner, and so on. Instead, machines are mass-producing products in giant factories, with underpaid workers. No longer do people need to have individual skills. Now, it is only necessary that they can keep the machines going, and do small, repetitive work. The lower working class can no longer live a normal life following their own pursuits, but are lowered to working inhumane hours in these factories. This widens the gap between the upper and lower class-called bourgeois and proletariat-until they are essentially two different worlds. The bourgeois, a tiny portion of the population, has the majority of the wealth while the proletariat, the huge majority, has nothing. It is with this background that Marx begins. First, the topic of the individual and society will be discussed. This topic in itself can be broken down even further. First, the flaws with the current system in respect to the bourgeois and proletariat will be shown, which will reveal the problems in the relationship between individual and society. Secondly, the way that communism addresses these issues, and the rights of the individual, as seen through the manifesto, will be elaborated on in great detail. Quite clearly, Marx is concerned with the organization of society. He sees that the majority of society, more specifically, the proletariat, are living in sub-human conditions. Marx also sees that the bourgeoisie have a disproportionate amount of property and power, and because of that, they abuse it. He writes of how the current situation with the bourgeoisie and proletariat developed. The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. There has always been struggles the between two classes, an upper and lower class. However, Marx speaks of the current order saying, It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctive feature: it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. The very nature of the bourgeoisie causes it to grow in size and power while the proletariat shrinks, therefore increasing the gap between the two. Marx goes on to describe how this situation came about, with the industrial revolution and other factors. Modern industry has established the world-market, for which the discovery of America paved the way. This market has given an immense development to commerce, to navigation, and to communication by land. This development has, in doing so, reacted on the extension of industry; and in proportion as industry, commerce, navigation, railways extended, in the same proportion the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the background every class handed down from the middle Ages. We see, therefore, how the modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange. With these thoughts in mind, a more defined view of the individual classes can be attained. First, the proletariat: in several places Marx speaks of how the proletariat is oppressed. He speaks of past societies and the current society when he says, Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed Bourgeoisie and proletariat could quite easily be added to this list of oppressor and oppressed. In every way the proletariat is oppressed, with no hope of improving their place in society. Rather, they are forced to live on hopelessly, knowing that they will not be released from their labors till death. Marx also writes of the relationship between the proletariat and the machines, which is a result of the split between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simply, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is required of himNot only are they slaves of the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois State; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself. Marx draws a picture of how the majority of the population is in an oppressed situation of slavery. The people of the proletariat are not to be envied. From here, Marx moves on to describe the oppressor, the bourgeois. He is quite eloquent in his description of this class: The bourgeois, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his natural superiors, and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous cash payment. It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom-Free Trade. Here Marx is speaking of how the bourgeoisie- controlled society takes every aspect of society and puts them in terms of an exchange value. They reduce all that is noble and admirable about humanity to monetary matters, all in the name of capitalism. Again, All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind. Marx uses very strong language in these passages, saying that the bourgeois profanes the holy, and drowns the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor. The bourgeois removes the humanity from society, creating a system in which anything and everything is measured by its worth in the capitalist structure. Now that the roles of the bourgeoisie and proletariat have been established, it is possible to reconsider the communist ideal. Clearly, Marx believes that it is wrong for the majority of society, the proletariat, to suffer. He believes that individuals should be equal, not divided into two distinct worlds. Marx describes the current individual in society saying, In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality. He also makes the distinguishing point that it is important for the reader to realize that objections have more than likely arisen from their own bourgeoisie background. You must, therefore, confess that by individual you mean no other person than the bourgeois, than the middle-class owner of property. The Power of Hurtful Words EssayNietzsche seeks all who read it to understand how this is the true exercise of will and how the world has been run down by people using their will in the wrong way. In order to understand Nietzsches sociological perspectives, it will help to be familiar with his background. Born in 1844 in Germany, he was the son of two generations of Lutheran priests. His father died when he was five, leaving young Friedrich to be raised by a family of women: his mother, sister, grandmother, and two aunts. At fourteen he was sent to boarding school and began his long academic career. He went to two graduate schools and received a teaching post when he finished at his second. He taught from 1869 to 1879, when he became to physically ill to continue teaching there. He managed to recover from his illness and actually produced the bulk of his work over the next decade, but his later years drew him so deeply into his philosophical theory that he lost his sanity. ietzsches The Will to Power is really a collection of his personal notes from 1883 to 1888. They were published in 1901 by his sister only a year after he died. During the period of time from which the notes are taken, Nietzsche wrote the bulk of his work including parts of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Geneology of Morals, The Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, Ecce Homo, and Nietzsche Contra Wagner. Nietzsches The Will to Power covers many various arguments, most of which are represented by one of these separate books. he Will to Power is divided into four books; each delving into a different debate. Individually they attempt to cover specific aspects of Nietzsches theory, but as the whole is truly based on his notebooks, many of his ideas cross books and interlace to help demonstrate his main hypothesis of the will to power. The books are: European Nihilism; Critique of the Highest Values Hitherto; Principles of a New Evaluation; and Discipline and Breeding. ietzsche begins the book with his coming to a nihilistic state about his life. Nihilism is the belief that any and all traditional morals, beliefs, and values are baseless. He then explains the step by step process that the modern world has gone through to reach the state where one comes to a belief in nihilism. He details every stage and the unfoundedness of the beliefs in each. He deftly illustrates the fault with each vehicle of hope that people have attempted to grasp onto. He discounts every movement from spiritual enlightenment to music and the arts to progress with incredible validity. ietzsches next section is an attack on the morals that the world has adopted, specifically the Christian values. He begins with a critical analysis of where religion comes from, sighting the need of priests to exercise their will over others and the denial of the self-knowledge of the will by projecting it as God. He continues with an analysis of the coming of Christianity and its appeal to the masses. He further points out the major problems with Christianity including the paradoxical views it projects. He discusses the herd mentality which religion grasps onto. He deconstructs those specific moral judgements that are popularly accepted. He then supplants them with his ideas for what mankind should uphold. My first solution: Dionysian wisdom. Joy in the destruction of the most noble and at the sight of its progressive ruin: in reality joy in what is coming and lies in the future, which triumphs over existing things, however good. (Nietzsche 224) Nietzsche aspires to have each person follow their own true instincts. ietzsche attacks the morality the world has adopted on the basis of perspectivism. He firmly states that everything that one has an opinion on is from a specific perspective, and is therefor askew to each persons own idiosyncracies. An attempt to think about morality without falling under its spell, mistrustful of the seductiveness of its beautiful gestures and glances. A world we can revere, that is adequate to our drive to worship-that continually proves itselfby providing guidance in the particular and the general: this is the Christian viewpoint in which we have all grown up. (Nietzsche 146) With this opinion of rationality, there is therefor no actual reality, since noone actually has a clear vision of it. Nietzsches will to power is the human spirit. According to Nietzsche, each of us has the same level of will power, but it is how we choose to utilize that makes the difference. The will to power can be used for evil doings to control and injure others but the truly powerful do not need to prove themselves to anyone and are comfortable just being. The next section of the book deals with how the will to power will apply to all aspects of life. It covers everything from metaphysics and science to reactions to natures rewards. Nietzsche basically states that there is a balance in this coming world where there is a Basic principle: only individuals feel themselves responsible. Nietzsche goes on to discuss his empirical view that each person is responsible for doing what they can. This is an empirical view because he discusses how some can do more than others and are therefor of higher ranking. He has very specific opinions of what makes one higher than another and what should be done concerning ranks. He actually states that who can and cannot reproduce should be regulated. Many people find offence with this and believe in equality for all. This is one of the debated faults in the work. There is also a flaw in Nietzsches theories when looked at from a sociological point of view. Nietzsche held up his ideal for the way in which people should behave but he took down all forms of social order in doing so and left an idealistic plan for how to continue a society with his ubermensch. Without some greater form of social construct, the likelihood that mankind would be able to support his principles does not seem likely. His argument would be that no one would fall out of line. However, his argument would be better supported should he have given a plan for social order with his liberated people. Despite its shortcomings though, Nietzsches theories seem firmly embedded in history. The concepts that he proposed allowed a number of great movements to follow. His theories on the Dionysian and Apollonian instincts opened up the deep psycho-analysis field to Freud, in addition to inspiring the existentialist movement. Unfortunately, his work was adopted and used to support the Third Reich when it was attempting to take over the world, and for a while no one would give his work any credit. Justly his work has recently been given the credit it is due, as well as all of his theories becoming again highly discussed, debated, and lamented over. The theory behind The Will to Power is incredibly well supported despite the fact that it is simply a collection of notes from Nietzsches later years. It is a wonderful compilation of the premise behind all of his other works and the summary of their individual points. The most amazing aspect of the book and the philosophy is the incredible validity of it even now, over a hundred years after it was written. The social order of his new world needed to be addressed more, but the principles proposed stand sturdily on their own two feet confident in their own will to power.