Marx - Religion Flashcards
• Marx deals with Feurbach
believe in God, we inventing something which we project in God – reflection of what we admire in humans
We project onto devil what we hate most about ourselves
- In what ways does Marx agree/disagree with Feurbach? Why?
Feurbach: german – inspired, but separated from haegle
Durkheim + Marx talking past each other
Part of utility: flagging difficulty in defining it
Sources in disagreement – point of entry in comparing thinkers
Feurbach
When we adore a god, ascribe our conceptions of what is best in humanity on a fictitious being
Ascribe worst conceptions onto the devil
Engels: Marx discovered fact men require necessities to survive before participating in politics
Alienated labour – working in advanced division of labour robs us from labour, humanity, connection – turns us into commodities
Religion robs us of our merits as human beings
In adoration – rob ourselves of our merits + attributes it to a god
Hegel
complex thinker, dense, difficult to read, diff interpretations
To grasp history, we need to realize its unfolding of idea
Idea denotes quasi supernatural force operating throughout history
Tocqueville epitomizes historical change based on ideas
• Hegel
Notion that there can be logic to historical change
Hegel argued that there was an unfolding to God-like ideas
Feurbach bunks notion that there’s a god that makes us do what we do
Marx partly borrow + disagree from Hegel + Feurbach + add own ideas
Marx and the Young Hegelians
german thinkers that focused on religious questions + challenged Hegel’s religious approach to history
religion should be attacked because it stood in the way of intellectual progress, advancement of human intellect
all human beings had a latent potential, but have lack of reason in organizing society
Marx and the Young Hegelians
deployed reason to criticize institutions that stood in the way of progress
Enlightenment: to achieve progress + emancipation from prejudice, ignorance, domination from Church, nobility
Rousseau, Locke, Voltaire
Ludwig Feuerbach on religion
against Hegel Feuerbach was part of young hegelians No patience for Hegel’s conservatism Argued god only exist 'cause alienated from themselves an idea we concoct, a fantasy
Ludwig Feuerbach on religion
Religion projection of hopes, dreams, concerns
Project onto god own highest powers: benevolence, intelligence
Project our ideas of human vices onto the devil
Task is to poke holes in this illusion
Hegel: what is real is an emanation of the divine
Feuerbach: divine is an emanation of the real – socially constructed: Its not God that creates us, we create God
Marx on religion: with Feuerbach
economic base which is real, not ideas
disparagement of individual ideas
God is fictitious being that we invent ourselves
Task of philosophy is to engaged in criticism of institutions that stand in the way of enlightenment – church, aristocracy
Agreed with critical stance
Social relations, not ideas real
Marx on religion: against Feuerbach
philosophical criticism alone not enough to destroy institutions + not sufficient for revolution
we need to reorganize society
wants to get to the root source of the problem: not that they think the wrong way, the root of the problem is the system of alienation
change the system, but get rid of the problem
Marx on religion: against Feuerbach
opiate of suffering masses: drug to get through awful lives, temporarily inserts them in a rosy dream
heart of a heartless world: not one they wanna belong them, make them feel a little bit more at home
solution is get rid of system, socialize production, ends alienation, gets rid of craving for religion
root problem is society that created alienation
Marx on ideas: a contradiction?
Religion: symbol making ideas of human beings
Myths, stories
if we end alienation, we no longer want to make symbols?
Impuding religious beliefs to material conditions in which we exist
How can he account for his ideas if he lives in same society?
Writing way he does is a revolutionary activity which merely represents the example of the species being that needs to be developed more fully in human society
Marx on ideas: a contradiction?
some variation as to how much of our species being we can show
in a religious society yet he can step outside society + critique it
Strong determinist element, but can be problematic
He is not a complete determinist
Tension betw Marx determinism + our creative side
Marx on ideas: a contradiction?
Structure vs. agency: same question of freedom vs. determinism
Structure: Durkheim – explain ppl in terms of social location (associated with certain outcomes), mapping people
Agency: ways in which social reality is constructed + upheld
We are also skilfull social actors from a repetoire make choices
Reconcile structural approach + agency
