Historical materialism

Different “Ways of Seeing” In the essay, “Ways of Seeing,” John Berger applies Marxism to art history. Marxism is the social, economic and political theory formed by Karl Marx. It deals with class struggle and the oppression of the lower classes by the upper classes. In the essay, Berger focuses on using Marxist methodology, when he analyzes and explains an artist named Frans Hal. Berger uses Hals paintings to demonstrate the structure of social classes, and their struggles to give an idea of…

Is it historical materialism that sustains structural violence, or the lack thereof? Is Bataille right - or Tuck and Yang? I seek the answers to the oppression I’ve faced and experienced - the solutions to both global poverty and racism in our global world. Marx through solely economics became overconfident and created a spring of death - he failed to account for human nature - the drive for animality. In America, there is constant amnesia – after a war, people mourn, yet are seduced again a few…

Theoretical by Engels highlights various terms and arguments against the capitalist system. Engels starts off by introducing the idea of Historical materialism. In historical materialism one studies the means and forms of material production within society. It is production and exchange of products that determines how a society is formed and how class is divided. Distribution guarantees whether poverty will exist and whether the rich will get richer. Engels also argues that capitalism is…

Idea is how people perceive the world around them. It is a very powerful tool, because it decides how people will live their lives. Some people even think that idea is what separates human beings from animals, because human can think rationally. People often regard their ideas as their own creation. They believe they can think for themselves. Yet, it is not difficult to find out that people who share the same background, such as nationality, age, class, and religion, often have very similar…

The historical dialectic materialist approach represents a key feature of Marxist thought. It is so vital to his explanations of history that it has often been seen as being synonymous with Marx himself. If one wants to understand history as a dynamic, and historical process, it is essential to look at it materially. Ultimately, the historical dialectic materialist approach allows us to make sense of why things are the way they are in a certain era. Three concepts go into explaining the…

The metaphysics of ancient Hawai’i are unique and reflect metaphysics of both dualistic and monistic ways of thinking. As I address that theory in this paper I will be comparing and contrasting the difference in the Western philosophies of Plato to that of old Hawai’i before the coming of the Christians missionaries in 1820. I will also explain the ways in which I found ancient Hawaiians were also similar to Eastern monistic ways of thinking. In both cases, Hawai’i seems to be unique because…

phenomena stimulated by our senses. One can never observe the human minds’ functionality without also observing the human brain operating as well. Because this correlational relationship is best illustrated by materialism (physicalism) in regards to the human mind, it is evident that materialisms’ outlook on the relationship between mind and body is true. Furthermore, the dualist explanation, specifically because it 's dualist, indicates mental phenomena as “existing over and above” their…

The physical medium and the mental medium work in an entirely different way. When modern spiritualism came about they dedicated their lives to developing spiritually, they had home circles. In this present world people are pre-occupied with social media additionally mobiles, lending itself more to mental mediumship and less dedication. To explain the difference between physical and mental mediumship, we will look at two words ectoplasm and mind. Lets look at physical mediumship, it requires a…

(Goldstein, Emergence as a Construct, 1999). Emergent materialism is a theory which dictates that the human mind is an “irreducible existent” (Massaro, 2010), John R. Searle presents emergent materialism as middle ground between materialism and dualism, the difference being that emergent materialism argues that consciousness is ontologically reducible in its own nature, but epistemologically irreducible for human understanding. Materialism, emergent materialism, and dualism all present…

he had of his father dying in his arms after being stabbed by his son while gushing out hundred dollar bills. The father exclaims “Thank god—those Ben Franklins were / Clogging up my heart” in order to communicate to his son that his greed and materialism has lead him to an unfulfilled life and if the teacher takes the same road he too will lead an unfulfilling life. This dream of his father widens our perspective as we now have insight on three different generations rather than just the…