“Life
is not Determined by Consciousness, but Consciousness by Life”
(Holy
Family by Karl Marx 1844)
By Elizabeth H. Elys
Social conditions are subject to constant change,
even so-called “traditional” societies where the pace of change may seem slow
by urban standard, this dynamic element in the social system must be taken into
account when preparing management or development measure. Awareness of this
historical element is important. The patterns of settlement, changes in
population, the arrival and departure of individuals and ethnic, professional or
socio-economic groups, the history and development of formal and informal
community, institutions and changes in the structure of power and decision
making responsibility will all influence the current state of resources and how
they are used.
The
cultural and political history has an important effect on Philosophy and
Religion.
Human being exist as a community, and what makes
human life possible is our mutual dependence on the vast network of social and
economic relations which engulf us all, even though this is rarely acknowledged
in our day-to day life. At first it is deviously acknowledged by religion,
which creates a false idea of a community in which we are equal in the eyes of
God. But state and religion will both be transcended when a genuine community
of social and economic equal is created.
A Philosophy searches and question to get the right
and logical answers, does not accept everything as a religion does unless it has
a logical reason behind it.
A religion preaches its followers what they should
do, what they should not do. Often a religion presents rewards and punishments.
Philosophy
is, in fact, construed to be Way of Thinking. This is the reason why
philosophers are called THINKERS, whereas propagators of religion are called
LEADERS.
One of the most important thinkers of 19th
century was Karl Marx (1818-1883), also is best known as a revolutionary, whose
works inspired the foundation of many communists regimes in the 20th
century.
Together with Friedrich Engels, he developed the
system of THOUGHT, especially the doctrines that class struggle has been the
main agency of historical change and the capitalism will inevitably be
superseded by socialist order and classless society. In Marx’s view, religion
operates as an ideological weapon use by the ruling class to justify the
suffering of the poor as something inevitable and God given. Religion misleads
the poor into believing that their suffering is virtuous and they will be favorited
in the afterlife. Such beliefs create a false consciousness.
Marx sees religion us the product of alienation. It
arises out of suffering and acts as a consolation for it, but fails to deal
with its cause namely class exploitation. Marx shows how religion may be a tool
of oppression that masks exploitation and creates a false consciousness.
The
aim of Marxists is to fight for the socialist transformation of society on
national and international scale. Marxists believe that it is the duty of any
humane person to support the fight against such a system which involves untold
misery, disease, oppression and death for millions of people in the world.
Marxists welcome the opportunity of dialogue between Marxists and Christians, Muslims
and other groups.
Marxism began as a philosophy: Dialectical
Materialism, it is a method of argument for resolving disagreement. The word
Dialectic originated in ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the
Socratic Dialogues. Dialectics is a method of thinking and interpreting the
world of both nature and society.
Marx stated his belief that the proletariat must
itself be the agent of revolutionary change in society. In the year 1848, he
wrote COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, a masterpiece
of political propaganda which ends with the celebrated rallying-cry: The Workers have Nothing to Lose but their Chains. They have a world to win. “WORKERS OF ALL LANDS UNITE”
Magnum Opus DAS KAPITAL, Marx established the
materialist interpretation of history, it is one of the most influential works
of the 19th century. He developed his mature doctrines of the theory
of surplus value, class conflict and the exploitation of the working class and
predicted the victory of socialism over capitalism and the ultimate withering
away of the state as the classless society of communism were achieved.
Despite the apparent failure of Marxian principles
as practiced in communist Europe, his theories still exert an enormous
influence in social science, and his secular adherents continue to outnumber
the followers of many other religious or political creeds.
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