Dialectical materialism

As we turn to the issue of atheism, I believe some framework is necessary. Atheism is typically defined as a lack of belief in God and it is in the definition of God that the issue arises. Clearly, the two philosophers have a different definition of the word God. As hopefully made clear in the second and third paragraph, Spinoza thinks that God is an impersonal summation of all things (i.e. substance), while Berkeley thinks that God is a personal, thinking thing responsible for but distinct from…

Epicurus’ atomism approach to life and reality is a materialistic one. In fact, Epicurus believed that only what is material is real, while all the rest is a simple product of the imagination of men. For instance, in his vision, the soul of a human being is made of atoms just like all other material things. He considered the soul the organ of perception from which sensation originates only when it works together with the rest of the human body. Furthermore, if the soul is material, when the body…

Locke disagrees with both Berkeley and Descartes regarding ideas and knowledge and how they are acquired. Locke claims that the way we come about knowledge is through careful experimentation and observation. In Locke’s theory of Materialism there are two sources that make up experience, Sensation and Reflection. Sensation is the source of our ideas of external objects like rivers, mountains and houses. For example viewing a yellow object, the object itself is not colored yellow it…

eliminative materialism’s claim. In this section, I will highlight and review a number of reasonable objections to eliminativism, such as the Commonsense Objections to eliminative materialism, which suggests that it is completely absurd or self-refuting. I will conclude that many of the arguments set forth by Eliminative Materialism, are not really convincing and that eliminativism needs to do more than simply show that FP is largely wrong. COMMON -SENSE OBJECTIONS 1. EM is completely absurd! …

contradiction. The following essay will define historical materialism as described by Engels, as well as explaining the fundamental contradiction and the two contradictions that arise from it, and finally concluding with a brief explanation of Engels ' vision of the ultimate outcome of the historical development of capitalism. Engels discussed historical materialism in Theoretical and was one of the reoccurring themes in the reading. Historical materialism is the principle…

Far from being exhausted, Marxism is still very young, almost in its infancy; it has scarcely begun to develop. It remains, therefore, the philosophy of our time. We cannot go beyond it because we have not gone beyond the circumstances which engender it. J.P. SARTRE, Search for a method (NY 1968) p. 29 Introduction Living in times which Francis Fukuyama famously described as the ‘end of history’, when the last great bastions of communism fell together with the Berlin wall more than 20 years…

Friedrich Engels wrote The Condition of the Working Class to express his view of how the middle class pictured workers in 19th century England. He argued that while industry and commerce was abundant and thriving, he realized industrialists fed on the association of the accumulation of wealth and the dwindling of wealth. When discussed upon the standard accepted definition of economic strength, it suggested Engels was fabricating his personal accounts with the concept of societal separation. The…

Why is responsibility such a significant theme in An Inspector Calls? In An Inspector Calls, the central theme is responsibility. Priestley uses the Inspector as a representative to voice his opinions on the main theme and the idea of socialism. Throughout the play, he presents each character with a role of responsibility and tries to make them aware, through the Inspector, that they are all guilty of Eva's death. The Inspector wants The Birlings to share their responsibility; Priestley's focus…

Theory in Action: How Adam Smith and Marx & Engels understand UberX business model Uber, a smartphone application connecting Uber drivers and customers directly, enables customers to request an Uber cab to pick them up on site by simply tapping on their screen. Recently, Uber Company is undergoing waves of protests from drivers of UberX, a subdivision service of Uber in which drivers use their own vehicles. Drivers contend that they are earning much less than the company claims. This paper will…

Saint Joan of the Stockyards, play by Bertolt Brecht attempts to represent drama of life with regard to financial issues of 1930’s. He makes an attempt to dramatize the complex economic situations with the help of his study of Marxism and capitalism. This play portrays the depths of suffering which has a moving effect on audience. In Saint Joan of the Stockyards everything eventually comes down to the question of meeting ends and means. It also portrays the socio-economic difference in classes…