Marx And Sigmund Freud: A Comparative Analysis

Throughout human history, many critics and scholars have scrutinized human activity and formulated their own interpretations of what human nature is. Two notable scholars who have executed that scrutiny are Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. Karl Marx was a 19th century German philosopher, sociologist, and economist. He closely studied poverty of the working class, and through his investigation formed a view of economic determinism (Study.com). Sigmund Freud, on the other hand, was a 19th century Austrian neurologist who studied Psychology. He is best known for developing the theory of psychoanalysis, and through this theory he conveyed many ideas centered on psychical determinism (Bio.com). Both of these analysts have focused on an approach to human …show more content…
Both of these scholars closely studied the behavior and outcomes of human nature. Through their scrutiny of the world around them and even the world within themselves, they both arrived at deterministic approaches to their theories based on human conduct. Their concepts, although similar in terms of determinism, contain many fundamental differences as well. As a psychologist, Freud studies the outward expression and behavior of humans in terms of their inward development and workings, as well as the depths of their minds which innately drive behavior. Freud’s psychical determinism theory yields almost no free will within humanity since their actions and behaviors are all predetermined with their unconscious mind being the driving force (Smith). Freud’s area of study and his extensive personality and mind structure theories result in this psychical determinism, and he theorizes on a more personal and inward level than Marx does. Marx, on the other hand, as a sociologist and economist focuses more on social and economic substance as the basis of his determinism. The alienation that Marx speaks of is fundamentally economic, and it is not timeless, but a result of the economic environment in capitalism (Marx and Freud Theories: Human Nature). Since his deterministic approach lies more in society and economic factors such as class and cycles of history, it relies less …show more content…
Freud’s individual and psychological grounds for his work entail a very personal and inward type of determinism which leads to what we know of human nature. Freud focuses on psychological properties of humans, such as their levels of awareness−conscious, subconscious, unconscious− and their personality structure−id, ego, superego−which makes his ideology extremely individual based and speaks of biological instinctual drives as human’s motive to execute any behavior in order to seek pleasure. Therefore, his philosophy contains the notion in which human nature is based on their unconscious prospects and humanity has no authentic free will. Marx, in contrast, focuses much more on societal determinism in terms of history and the current economic institution in which citizens find themselves. Marx studied class distinction within capitalism and deemed it the foundation and cause of poverty in society. Marx argued that the work capitalism forces citizens to pursue separates, or alienates, them from their own nature. He concludes that the institution of capitalism itself goes against what humans are meant to do, which is not to stand or sit in one place repeating the same action to create a product they are naturally separated from and will never see or see being utilized (Broadhead lecture). Since Marx’s