Karl Heinrich Marx was a Philosopher

Karl Heinrich Marx was a philosopher, economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He was among the most important thinkers of the 1800s. Marx published Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, anti-capitalist works that form the basis of Marxism. These publications helped form a foundation for the political and economic system known as Communalism.
Born May 5, 1818, Karl Marx was from a large family of Protestant in the town of Trier, Germany. Both Marx's parents were born into Jewish families. However, they had converted to Lutheranism before his birth due to the enforcement of anti-Jewish laws by the government. Although Marx was influenced by both Christian and Jewish teaching during his younger years, he had rejected both religions and became an atheist and a materialist.

In 1835, Marx began his study of law at the University of Bonn. He transferred to the University of Berlin in the next year, where he shifted his focus to philosophy. In 1841, Marx earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University in Jena. At the time the Prussia's royal family were deeply religious and controlled most jobs in the University in the German-speaking world. Marx was known as a critic of religion and of the Prussian government, which ended his hopes for a job as a professor. Due to Marx's criticism of religion, he turned to journalism. He became an associate editor of Rheinische Zeitung, a radical newspaper in Cologne.

As a student, Marx was heavily influenced by the works of G. W. F. Hegel, French socialists, and British free-market thinkers. By the mid-1840's, Marx adopted the four fundamental elements of his philosophy. First is Hegel's idea that history progresses through a necessary series of conflicts. Second, the idea of materialism, a belief considers material possessions and physical succeeds spiritual values. Third, the idea that socialism and its emphasis on public ownership of property used for economic production. And lastly, the idea of capitalism of market forces determine economic activity.

There are several notable publications of Karl Marx that made great impact to today's world. The Communist Manifesto, published in1848, is his most famous work. At the time the western world experienced economic and social collapse due to the defects of capitalism. The Manifesto provides the foundation for the working class, whom joined together to form International Workingmen's Association and called itself communist. Marx's Das Kapital offered a theoretical explanation of how capitalism developed and how it can be transformed into Communism.

He argued that the division of social classes created inevitable conflicts that drove civilization throughout the history. Eventually, the swelling working class created by Capitalism's overproduction of goods and services and shrinking of owner class would break the system. The working class would revolt and seize control of the government and end the idea of social classes. Lead to a government that no longer needed to enforce public ownership of property and create true Communist society.

Karl Marx made considerable contributions to the evolution of economic thought. He deepened the concept of value according to work, offered a system that reconsidered the fairness of profit distributions, and proposed a system in which the well-being of the worker not only based on the salary received for the work, but also in relation to personal development. His view of economy inspired the raise of Soviet Union, one of the most powerful Communist country in the history.

Other Communist countries include the nations of Eastern Europe, that were under the control of Soviet Union, and as well as China, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam. Although most of the communist countries today had either declined or introduced capitalist elements into their policy, Marx's influence on government still affects the notions of social conflict, historical development, and classes struggles throughout the world. As for today, some aspect of the capitalist system criticized by Marx had been verified by some contemporary publications on financial crises.

Cite this page