Student: Sarah Joynt
Class: Phil M03 – Social & Political
RS#3: Karl Marx, The German Ideology
Submission to: Professor Kalugin
Due Date: 10am 02/19 /2013

Marx Summary: The German Ideology Marx begins his dialogue by suggesting the ideals of the powers of the past have led to nothing but decay. He claims the German ideology of Hegelian philosophy initiated by Strauss is based in materialist domination, and is nothing short of illusionary. He believes it has brought German society such chaos and demise that it makes the French revolution look like child’s play. His appeal is based on a sloth of supply side economics dominated by an over-saturation of industrialization and a glut of unnecessary goods and services which has given rise to the hideousness of a new class of Germans, the bourgeoisie, the rich and powerful whose prime objective is greed and oppression. Overall the outcome is a lowering of standards of moral worth and integrity that Marx feels this is in deep contrast to the honest values once held dear to most citizens of the great nation of Germany. As such, he believes the resulting manifestation of German industrialization and materialism must be evaluated from outside the interior of the culture, which is now hindered by ethnocentric idealism instilled by the Young Hegelian movement. In reviewing the historical details with relation to German philosophy he believes that in general there are two sides to history. The history of nature, called natural science, and the history of man, that although they are different in nature, one is inseparable from the other. However, for the sake of this discourse he will focus entirely on the history of men because they are the arbitrators of the abstract and distorted concepts responsible for the departure from the natural evolution. Marx embarks on a tirade of criticisms against all other philosophers who have attempted to critique any German philosopher from Strauss to Stirner, claiming their arguments lack any substance other than turning the Hegelian system back onto itself, or were focused on a critique of religious conceptions. He summarizes that most religious critiques from the Old Hegelians to the Young Hegelians argue the universal problems with religion can be attribute to a belief in dogmas, and as such are limited to matters of a theological nature. Marx primary concern is that absence of philosophers to consider the relationship between German philosophy and German reality, specifically in regards to material surroundings. Marx first premise of the material method is the very practical idea that humans exist as living individuals and therefore must consider their social organization with relation to their subsistence patterns and their consequent relation to the rest of nature in a very realistic way. The very nature of subsistence patterns relative to nature and other living human individual’s naturally lends itself to the need for production, and as populations increase it is inevitable the need for production increases also. Next he discusses the importance of the division of labor, the internal intercourse within a population, and the external intercourse between two different populations. Division of labor introduces differences in industrialization and commercial capital from agricultural labor, which in turn establishes differences and conflicts between town and country respectively. Ultimately this creates a hierarchical organization of classes through ownership of property and labor based on the methods of employment. Marx believes there are many forms of labor ownerships but only identifies three; firstly the tribal, or labor division within the family or small tribal units of hunter gatherer types. Secondly, the ancient communal or state ownership model consisting of several different tribes with designated leaders who govern either by agreement or conquest from which the