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I Hate Western Philosophy (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by ArcticFoxSmiles@lemmygrad.ml to c/comradeship@lemmygrad.ml

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I am learning the business side of western philosophy for a college class and I can already tell I hate Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and basically every Greek philosopher.

Edit: To clarify things, I do not hate all of Western philosophy like Karl Marx just the more mainstream parts which are being taught in American academia.

This is a vent post and I was using hyperbole and being dramatic. I am sorry for the confusion.

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[–] chesmotorcycle@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 day ago

Well, I won't be able to do this topic justice due to limited time, but I hope I can at least point you in the right direction.

Maybe the best place to start if you're new to this is the Communist Manifesto. It's short and to the point, and contains gems like:

the means of production and of exchange, on whose foundation the bourgeoisie built itself up, were generated in feudal society. At a certain stage in the development of these means of production and of exchange, the conditions under which feudal society produced and exchanged, the feudal organisation of agriculture and manufacturing industry, in one word, the feudal relations of property became no longer compatible with the already developed productive forces; they became so many fetters. They had to be burst asunder; they were burst asunder.

The serf-lord relation of feudalism came under threat with the development of productive forces. The lords/aristocrats had the basis of their economic power, land ownership, undercut by new economic power managed by the new capitalist class. The more the latter developed, the more unsustainable the former became, until the serfs were "liberated" from their feudal plots, becoming landless members of the new working class.

The "dialectical" part here is the relationship between the opposing forces, and the "materialism" is the economic aspect. As you say, unlike Hegel, Marx and Engels rejected the idea that it was "thought" that caused such changes in class relations. Rather, changes in thought followed those changes.

I'll have to leave it there for now, but some additional resources are:

this excellent study guide put together by comrade Cowbee (you could jump straight to section 3, but I'd highly recommend Why Socialism? by Einstein)
or, if you want to jump right in to the deep end, John Bellamy Foster has a great interview related to these topics here

Most importantly, I hope you stick around on Lemmygrad. Keep reading, ask questions when you're not sure about things, and comrades will be here to answer!