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Slavery: Sophie's World By Karl Marx

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Sophie's world-ELA final Slavery is a horrid business. Everyone should be paid in some way for anything they do. In Sophie's World, Philosophy is around every corner, and Marx, a famous philosopher, worked to tell people this. Marx is my favorite philosopher and his main point is for everyone to earn for work. Because if not, work would just be a waste of time. No one would want to do it, but slaves were beaten if they did not. He was a strong believer in communism and did not agree with capitalism. As it was ‘self-destructive’. I found marxism to be most relevant to me, he talks about the biggest question I have about life, Why? Why do we work? Marx talked about slavery or ‘production’ a lot, he thought that, “Production was mainly based on slave labor” Saying that slaves are machines and will make things such as clothes and that citizens with money could be lazy and not need to invent things As sain here; “so the citizens had no need to increase production with practical innovations”. This is an example of how material relations help to affect philosophical reflections in society.” (389) …show more content…

Capitalism is an economic system, which is self-destructive because it lacks rational control” (395). Although this may seem a small piece, it is another piece of truth on the rapidly growing pile in the 1800s which was when Marx

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Wealthy elites or the bourgeoisie continued to earn high profits while the poor proletarians continued to take part in labor intensive work in factories. Marx and Smiles both saw this as a major problem in their society. In Marx’s Communist Manifesto, he wrote, “ not only are they [the proletarians] slaves of the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois state; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself…” What Marx means is that the bourgeoisie is looking down at the proletariats and using them as merely a way to earn profit. In contrast to Marx, Smiles said, “...they [the proletarians] resemble the savage tribes, who know no better, and do no worse.”

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The Industrial Revolution did not only change the way western society manufactured goods, but helped spark a change in the way society thought. Millions of individuals left their small farms and simple way of life to journey to the newly emerging cities where they would be crammed into small living spaces and be forced to work for extreme lengths of time. Through this economic revolution also emerged a revolution of western thought. In 1848, Karl Marx, a German philosopher, looked at what was happening to these individuals and released his pamphlet The Communist Manifesto. His work aimed to address the problems that were associated with the Industrial Revolution by utilizing an uprising of those oppressed by the system to “seize the means of

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Marx's analysis of modern slavery was centred on the realisation that slaveowner capitalism was more dreadful than any other type of slavery that had ever existed. In his critiques of capitalism, Marx highlights the consequence of extreme labour to be alienation, with the main one being Alienation of Man from Man, which is made extremely evident in the slave trade, with non-white people becoming isolated from white people because of their labour. Similarly, Douglass found that the economic system of slavery, required the alienation of African Americans from their own identity to continue operating because the slaves could see how they were being oppressed but could not reject the only thing they knew. In Wage Labour and Capital, Karl Marx emphasises that the working class must be alienated from others, themselves, and their labour in order for the capitalist system to function and for the working class to remain unaware of the system they support. Despite having conflicting opinions on whether their respective economic systems can be perceived, Marx and Douglass both view their respective economic systems as unsustainable in their essays, Wage Labour and Capital and Life Narrative, respectively.

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Men want to be “free and conscious producers.” (“The German Ideology”) By impeding man’s ability to realize his true desires, capitalism incentivizes the proletariat to demand change and make it happen. According to Marx and Engels, it is people’s ability to produce not solely to meet their needs, but as an end in and of itself that makes us truly human, and people will not rest until they reach their human potential.

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In his life narrative, Frederick Douglass describes the economic system of slavery as needing the alienation of black Americans from their own identity to continue to function, where the slaves can see their oppression but cannot reject the one thing that they know. Karl Marx in Wage Labor and Capital explains the capitalist system as requiring the alienation of the working class from themselves, others and their work to keep the system going, so that the working class remains oblivious to the system they provide for. Despite their different views on whether their respective economic systems can be perceived, Douglass in his life narrative and Marx in his essay Wage Labor and Capital similarly view their economic systems as unsustainable because

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In the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution caused a massive economic spike from small-scale production to large factories and mass production. Capitalism became the prevalent mode of the economy, which put all means of production in the hands of the bourgeoisie, or the upper class. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels argue that capitalism centralizes all the wealth and power in the bourgeoisie, despite the proletariat, or the working class, being the overwhelming majority of the population. The manufacturers would exploit the common proletariat and force them to would work in abysmal conditions and receive low wages, furthering the working class poverty. “The Communist Manifesto” predicts that as a result of the mistreatment

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You’ve probably heard the saying, “You get what you pay for.” I have found that to be generally true. Most of the more expensive items that I’ve purchased over the years have served me well. I’m thinking of clothes that have worn like iron and tools that have been through many homeowner wars and just keep on working. No doubt, you can probably think of some good examples too.

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Karl Marx is one of the most influential thinkers to arise from the 19th century and his views on economic, social and political issues are still relevant to the society we live in today. During his lifetime Marx’s writings served as the voice of the rising working classes in the United Kingdom and Europe. One of Marx’s most studied works is his perspectives on capitalism. In this essay I will explain and evaluate why Marx believes that capitalists exploit workers under capitalism and what he means by this. Karl Marx thinks that under capitalism, capitalists exploit off their workers by not fully compensating them for their labor to maximize their amount of profit.

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Communist thought acknowledges the technological achievements that have been made possible through liberal thought and capitalism, but argue that the conditions produced have been more enslaving than freeing. Marx himself notes the significance of the industrial revolution, with its “productive forces” (Marx & Engels, 1848, p. 15) in the “subjugation of nature” (p. 15) as greatest ever observed in human history. Marx however pessimistically downplays the significance of the ‘freeing’ aspects of liberalism. Instead, through his theory of historical materialism, he views societal relations in the industrial age similarly to other epochs in a past, a history of mankind marked by “class struggle” (p. 14).

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He argues that with all the pressures of class conflict and the imbalance of capitalism there is no way that this pattern can continue without a major revolution. Marx compares capitalism to anarchy, in the sense that there is no organization within which only causes chaos. The common pattern of capitalism is a boom followed by a bust, and that bust leads to recession and social unrest. This sort of fickle economy, Marx believes, will furthermore contribute to the downfall of capitalism. This socialist revolution would, “abolish private ownership of key elements of economy and change nature of relationships from ones based on marriage and property.”

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Before the industrial revolution, the working class people were able to own their work, for example, a baker would have control on what kind of bread to produce, how to produce it and ultimately they were in charge of their working hours. Hence they were able to reach their full human potential. Marx called this the “species essence”. He believed that work fulfils our species essence because it allows us to be creative and hence flourish in society. But under a capitalist system Marx acknowledged 2 social classes which had existed, the bourgeoisie (those who owned the means of production and profit) and proletariat (the working class/laborers).

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(Oxford Dictionaries | English, 2017). The fundamental principles of capitalism will be focused on in this essay. They will be used to determine whether or not capitalism is inherently exploitative. Exploitation will also be looked at, not just in terms of the worker, but also natural

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In other words, the capitalists benefit most from this system. The result of this was often alienated labor, which is one of Marx and Engels’ main critiques of capitalism. Marx explains, “It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine

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He was even feared by the authorities because of his witty, satirical pamphlets.” (pg 389 Gorbatov) Karl Marx stood for capitalism, his main purpose was to increase profits though land, labor and free market. It is a replacement of slavery and feudalism. Work Citied : Bentley, Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the past.

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