19th Century History, Chapter 13

Hegel and Marx

Why was Hegel important?

He was one of the most influential 19th century German philosophers and inspired Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

What was Hegel’s main doctrine?

That of absolute idealism

What is absolute idealism?

A doctrine that the universe is an objective reality consisting of ideas in the universal mind, called the Spirit or Absolute

What is the Spirit according to Hegel?

A spiritual organism encompassing the universe that has its own self-awareness and plan, evolving and developing according to its internal principles towards its destiny

What is Hegel’s viewpoint on religion?

He followed panentheism, the view that God is in every part of the universe but is also more than the universe (his idea of the Spirit)

How does Hegel view the history of the world?

History is the continual development of the Spirit towards greater self-consciousness, rationality, and greater cognizance of itself as a free, self-determining being

What is the dialectic pattern of history proposed by Hegel?

All history begins with a starting point, the thesis, from which an opposing state of affairs is produced, the antithesis, and then the conflict yields a new situation, the synthesis

How does the dialectic pattern guide history?

Once the original thesis and resulting antithesis produce a synthesis, this synthesis becomes a thesis, causing the pattern to repeat → the rational, inevitable cycle pushes history in a positive direction

What is communism?

The political and economic view that the means of production should be owned and controlled by the state for general welfare in a classless system

What was the main idea proposed by Marx?

Communism

What is the guiding principle of communism?

Equality, the view states that wealth should be shared by all, being distributed according to Marx’s statement: ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’

What does Marx believe is the driving force of history?

Economics, which be believes determines philosophy, history, society, law, government, and morality → the dominant system in any place dictates societal structure and how history unfolds

How does Marx incorporate Hegel’s dialectic pattern?

He believes that class struggle repeats through history according to the dialectic process

What are the two classes according to Marx?

The bourgeoisie, the owners of the means of production, and the proletariats, the producers supporting society

How does class struggle culminate according to Marx?

The bourgeoisie dig their own graves by creating a large, poor, angry class of proletariats, who will eventually bring about a revolution leading to a communist society, potentially with a transitional socialist phase

How is socialism different from communism?

In socialism, like in communism, the working own the means of production, however unlike communism society is not classless and capitalism and personal property still exist to some degree

What is capitalism?

A socioeconomic system where wealth goes to anyone that can acquire it in a free market place

What is Marx’s most influential work?

The Manifesto of the Communist Party, a work co-authored with Friedrich Engels