Fundamentals of Marx: Idealism vs. Materialism

one of the biggest buzz words in Marxist circles is dialectical materialism Marxists use some permutation of that term so often that it sometimes becomes difficult to understand what on earth dialectical materialism even means and more importantly why it even matters unfortunately to understand this concept we're going to have to break it down into several parts today's installment in the fundamentals of Marx series is going to take the first step in the quest to deciphering dialectical materialism let's first consider the term materialism there are many different definitions and uses of this word many people outside of Marxism understand it to be a word describing excessive obsession with the material we call someone materialistic when they are too preoccupied with money possessions frivolous collectibles etc as a general rule of thumb this is not how the term materialism is used when talking about Marxist theory materialism in our case refers to a philosophy or world outlook that treats reality as independent of human thought it places emphasis on the very matter this world is made out of this definition makes more sense when looking at material isms philosophical opposite idealism idealists believe that human thought comes first that the world exists in our minds extreme forms of idealism such as solipsism believe that the world around us is only real insofar as it exists in our mind the book that I'm holding for example exists only in my mind my mind creates the sensation that I'm holding it that I'm reading the words in it anything that does not immediately take part in what I am experiencing is not real similar to extreme forms of idealism there are extreme forms of materialism vulgar materialists believe that there is nothing in the world beyond matter even our thoughts and consciousness can be simplified to the electrochemical reactions happening in our brains it goes without saying that a materialist would insist that the affirmation book exists in a reality that is very much independent of my thoughts and perceptions of course idealism can take on milder forms most of the time idealism is used to suggest that ideas often capitalized to indicate some universal historical importance are the drivers of nature and history materialists vulgar or not believed that our ideas and thoughts are shaped by the environment that we exist in relevant conditions may include our physical environment our ecological surroundings and of course the socio-economic system we find ourselves in Marxist fall pretty squarely in the materialist camp though they tend to reject vulgar materialism the Marxist believe that our mind and our thoughts are shaped by the conditions we were raised and living however Marx and and successors vehemently refused the notion that matter is the only thing that counts ideas and thoughts are important to most significantly ideas have the power to reshape the conditions around us it's fairly obvious that proving either idealism or materialism is an almost fruitless endeavor hours could be wasted attempting to prove that the world around us is in fact real and exists entirely outside our perception however materialism has a distinct advantage over idealism it is methodologically stronger if we adopt a materialist mode of thinking we are able to produce scientific work with concrete results contemporary science has long since adopted a materialist way of thinking it's hard to imagine how futile astrophysics would have been if physicists got caught up on whether or not their observations are real in this sense the battle between materialism and idealism ended quite a while ago you won't find any serious member of the scientific community holding on to idealist beliefs however the idealist method has survived and continues to cast a shadow over many intellectuals fears anytime we encounter a historical argument that prioritizes great people or big ideas as the mechanisms for change we are faced with idealism we may also find idealism and arguments that claim some universal concept like the notion of a permanent human nature or the insistence on the universality of the free market the reason idealism has survived in these particular fields of thought is because it is a very useful and powerful tool that can secure legitimacy for the status quo arguments like there are natural leaders and natural followers capitalism is most suited to human nature because we are selfish or humans are inherently destructive which is why we have global warming generally fall an idealist line of thinking most materialists would reject these claims and counter them by saying for instance that leaders and followers are created from birth through social conditions and economic advantages materialists would point to indigenous cultures in the pre-colonial americas as evidence that humanity is not inherently destructive but rather destructiveness which is itself subjective and ambiguous is a symptom of specific social systems for the most part this is what materialism means for Marxists we will continue to look at materialism in the upcoming videos which will also cover the dialectic and historical materialism having a basic understanding of materialism is essential when reading many Marxist texts since most of the big early thinkers were still heavily engaged in the battle against idealism more importantly having a proper understanding of materialism will hopefully allow us to produce more thorough and concrete analyses of the world around us we're going to end the discussion here for now feel free to leave your responses thoughts and questions in the comment section below until next time remember the Philosopher's have only interpreted the world in various ways the point is to change [Music] you

Channel: The Marxist Project

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Keywords: idealism, materialism, Marxism, socialism, communism, capitalism, philosophy, economy, politics, political economy, vulgar materialism, solipsism, epistemology, ontology, metaphysics, Marx, Engels, Lenin

Id: XyzFwHFN_BI

Length: 5min 43sec (343 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 16 2019