SOC 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: The German Ideology, For Marx, Antithesis
Document Summary
The most detailed account of marx"s theory of history. Marx set out to reformulate the work of the eminent german philosopher georg. Hegel saw change as the motor of history. Hegel"s dialectical process: a given state of being an idea or contains within it the seeds of an opposing state of being or idea. The resolution of the conflict produces yet a new state of being or idea. This synthesis, in turn, forms the basis of a new contradiction, thus continuing the process of change. The german ideology reflects both marx"s indebtedness to and break from. Like hegel, marx argues that each successive period in societal evolution is a necessary consequence of the preceding stage. However, marx breaks decisively from hegel insisting that it is material existence- not consciousness- that fuels historical change. Theoretically, this inversion is of utmost significance because it reflects a shift from non-rationalist to a rationalist theoretical orientation.
