Marx and Morality
Sep 22, 2024Karl Marx famously attempted to explain our social, political, and economic systems in terms of class conflict.
“The Communists do not preach morality at all.” Those are Marx's own words, and they sure seem pretty clear: Marx hated morality. He called it a bourgeois prejudice, a way to trick workers into being docile drones instead of rebelling against the system. And yet at other times Marx sounds very much the moralist. He's constantly railing against capitalist business owners, saying they exploit their workers, deprive people of dignity, and suck the life out of society. Marx thought we could do better than bourgeois morality: there’s a real morality out there, he implied, ready to replace the fake one.
So what should we make of Marx when he writes that “Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion and morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis”? Is he not saying that rather than seeking a new ethical system, we should smash them all? Well yes, but not now—he’s saying we should smash them in the future, once we have a communist utopia. In that utopia, everyone’s needs will be met, so we won’t have to worry about conflicting needs.
Even if that's true, there's surely still a problem. Some moral codes are about more than conflicting needs: they are about being good people. Suppose, for example, you promise someone that you'll keep their secret; in the amoral utopia, what's to keep you from blabbing it around?
According to Marx, you'll want to keep the secret. Once the utopia is here, you won’t have to be forced to do things by some external moral system, like some kind of angel on your shoulder whispering orders into your ear. Morality is a way of getting people to do things they don’t already want to do. In utopia, we won't need that: everyone will automatically want to do what’s best for everyone else. Even now, in this imperfect world of ours, we often do things for our loved ones simply because we love them. And we also do things for people we've never met: everywhere you look, people are building schools, inventing cures for diseases, painting murals that brighten everyone's day. Human nature is at least partly altruistic, and many people have a genuine desire to contribute something new to society.
OK, but who's going to collect the garbage in utopia? (In Grafton, New Hampshire, a libertarian community reportedly collapsed when the local bears started attacking.) Warm fuzzy feelings may be enough for a happy week at Burning Man. But for a sustainable long-term project, you're going to need everyone to take a turn doing the ongoing, unpleasant tasks. There's an altruistic side to humanity, but we’re also a selfish species of individuals who look out for our own interests. Why should we think that’s going to change just because the workers have seized the means of production?
Marx might say this: look at how different we are now from how people were even a hundred years ago, let alone a thousand or ten thousand. In ancient Rome, pretty much everyone thought slavery was totally normal; nowadays, pretty much everyone would be appalled if they found out their neighbor had a slave. "We’ve come a long way, baby." But an opponent might ask just how long a way we've actually come, given the existence of factory farming, ecological degradation, or people going bankrupt from doctor’s bills just to make the medical industry rich. Human greed has not gone away, and it isn’t about to. The selfish side is not going to change, even in a marxist utopia.
Maybe our guest will convince us that such change is possible: it’s Vanessa Wills, whose new book is Marx’s Ethical Vision.
Comments (12)
Daniel
Tuesday, October 15, 2024 -- 4:30 PM
From a purely materialisticFrom a purely materialistic perspective, i.e. from the perspective of a pure nominalism of concept-contents generated by some or other thought-independent combination or extraction of materials, morals are generic norms the invariance of which is constituted by the conditions which make possible their production and maintenance. The imperative not to steal, for example, can be a moral one only insofar as private ownership is understood as a universal right. But because not everybody owns property, this right has relevance to only a few. It's therefore not a bundle of normative claims that constitutes a moral system, but the partiality of its relevance, making variations in moral codes correspond to those in social privileges. Does this suggest that abolition of social privilege would entail the abolition of morality altogether? My answer would be that it doesn't seem so, because the possibility of universal application of normative claims is not eliminated along with it, but remains a possible object of knowledge which, however, under current material conditions of existence, remains unknown. Does this sound about right?
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Thursday, November 14, 2024 -- 3:48 AM
Was Marx really a moralist?Was Marx really a moralist? Some argue his ideas focus on ethical principles of justice and equality, though others see them purely as economic critique. As a student, I’m curious—if I’m struggling with complex topics like this, is it common for others to pay someone to take online class for support? How do students manage when balancing deep theories with other academic demands?
kennthkane
Sunday, November 17, 2024 -- 10:39 PM
Explore Karl Marx as aExplore Karl Marx as a moralist opens intriguing discussions about his ethical perspectives and their impact on societal structures. I’ve been so stress with my dissertation—no matter how much I try, I just can’t get it right. Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier to just Help With My Assignment instead of struggling alone. Has anyone else felt this lost with their research and writing?
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Wednesday, November 27, 2024 -- 5:11 AM
One of the most importantOne of the most important aspects of comprehending Marx's social philosophy is his rejection of morality as a bourgeois prejudice. According to him, traditional morality distracted workers from their actual power, which benefited the ruling class. Getting essay assistance will help you understand these difficult concepts and provide a more in-depth understanding if you struggle with your Marxist essay.
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Tuesday, December 10, 2024 -- 11:59 PM
Marx's vision of a utopiaMarx's vision of a utopia without morality clashes with Monkey Mart Game the reality of human self-interest, challenging his ideal society.
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