Dialectical materialism part 1 of 2: Materialism

Marxism is a left-wing ideology built on French socialism, German philosophy, and the English political economy. Today we will tackle the element of German philosophy within Marxism by describing the framework Marxist interpret history, dialectical materialism. By discussing the two ideas that make it up Friedrich Hegel’s Dialectic and Ludwig Feuerbach’s Materialism. This will be similar to our series on the elements of the periodic table. However, instead of being about the various elements that make up the periodic table, it’s about the ideological components that make up Marxism.

First, let’s briefly discuss history. It is believed that the philosophy of materialism has been around for over 2,000 years. During its existence, the ideology would go through a plethora of changes and alterations, with different philosophers having different interpretations and applications. The variant of materialism that inspired Karl Marx in the development of his ideas was the one espoused by anthropologist Ludwig Feuerbach. Someone who, fun fact also influenced the work of Charles Darwin.

The core principle of materialism is that everything is made up of matter, and all things abide by and are influenced by material conditions. Such things like consciousness and will are shaped by material conditions rather than them affecting the material conditions. It fundamentally believes that reality is objective and that all beings are products of material surroundings and circumstances rather than reality being subject to how the mind interprets it. As technology advanced, materialism became more based on science. When applied to history and society, it means that significant events are the product of their surroundings and conditions. So the matter is the sole subject of change in reality.

The ideological opposite of materialism is idealism. The core principle in idealism is that reality is dependent upon how the mind interprets it. So the means that the mind influences reality rather than reality affecting the mind. It believes that whatever can be perceived can be real, such as a soul or a god. When applied to a view of history and society, it means that significant events are caused by ideas rather than the conditions where those ideas developed in.

Idealism tends to go line in line with religion. Since as stated before, idealism believes in what can be perceived, and that includes a god. Materialism, on the other hand, is opposed to religion since it believes in what is observed. This is the reason why Marxism is an atheistic ideology.

It is pretty clear where idealism and materialism differ ideologically. In summation where an idealist would say, “I think. Therefore I am,” a materialist would say, “I am, therefore I think.” Where idealism believes the mind shapes its surroundings, materialism believes surroundings shape the perception. However, materialism is only half of the philosophy of dialectical materialism. The other half of the philosophy, the dialectic, is a story for another day.

Citations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialism#Overview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Feuerbach

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism#Classical_Marxism