Questions
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marxfeuerb.pptKarl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Karl Marx – 1818 --
one the most aggressive critics of religion
A reductionist functionalism
Ludwig Feuerbach –
a source of a major aspect of Marx’s critique.
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Marx on capitalism
1. Workers deserve to keep the product of their labor
Their work has produced the value of the product.
But their work becomes a commodity to be sold.
2. Capitalism deprives them of their just reward.
Capitalists force people to work extremely hard,
but for smaller returns than they deserve.
- In a capitalist system, no factory owners can
afford to be generous. Their products will
cost too much if wages cost too much.
[Think Walmart today.]
- Over-production is inevitable, requiring a
shut-down of some factories [a recession]
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Base and Superstructure
Economics is the base of society
Everything else is built upon economics
and guided by it.
[E.g., foraging people are egalitarian because they
must live in small groups, face-to-face.
E.g., agricultural people are hierarchical because
agriculture feeds thousands, who live in cities.
To avoid chaos in cities there must be a ruling class;
to defend the city against other cities, there must be
a warrior class – who defend the ruling class.
See Pals, p. 137 for other examples. ]
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Base and Superstructure
Economics is the base of society
Everything else is built upon economics
and guided by it.
Religion is no exception, says Marx:
theologians (and philosophers) tell the workers
to accept their lot in life; all is as God wills it to be.
This set of ideas is the superstructure built upon
the economic power and interests of the few.
A superstructure which legitimizes economic
power interests = an “ideology.”
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Base and Superstructure
Economics is the base of society
Everything else is built upon economics
and guided by it.
Religion is also an expression of misery --
“Religion is the sigh of the afflicted creature”
-- as well as a consolation for that misery:
“the opium of the people”
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Sum:
Religion is part of an “ideology”
a belief system supposedly true,
but whose real function is to
a. legitimize those in power; and
b. console the workers so they accept their misery.
But this is just the social function of religion.
What is the origin of religion in the 1st place?
Answer given by
bristle beard,
Feuerbach
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Ludwig Feuerbach, 1804-1872
The Essence of Christianity
1841 !! See the excerpt handed out.
A theory of religion based on an analysis of what it means to be human.
There are ten parts to this theory:
1. Humans have a special kind of consciousness –
awareness not just of self but of ‘’humanness,”
-- of self and others being part of a single species.
2. This species-awareness is the result of humans
having/being a capacity for the infinite.
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Ludwig Feuerbach, 1804-1872
The Essence of Christianity
1841 !! See the excerpt handed out
A theory of religion based on an analysis of what it means to be human.
- With this capacity for the infinite we can imagine
an infinite being, just like us except totally perfect.
4. The attributes (“predicates”) of this divine being
are our own attributes which we write in the sky.
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Ludwig Feuerbach, 1804-1872
The Essence of Christianity
1841 !! See the excerpt handed out
A theory of religion based on an analysis of what it means to be human.
- Some theologians argue that
a) God is beyond all attributes, and
b) we can use attribute-talk nonetheless
if we remind ourselves that God-in-Himself
is infinitely beyond our way of thinking.
This is horse-pucky, says Feuerbach;
the real God of religious people has attributes.
So the real God has “anthropomorphic traits.”
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Ludwig Feuerbach, 1804-1872
The Essence of Christianity
1841 !! See the excerpt handed out
A theory of religion based on an analysis of what it means to be human.
- People contrast the perfection of God
with human imperfection – and are troubled by it.
They seek union with God, their perfect self.
- One way they do this is to obey this God,
who provides moral guidance through laws.
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Ludwig Feuerbach, 1804-1872
The Essence of Christianity
1841 !! See the excerpt handed out
A theory of religion based on an analysis of what it means to be human.
8. But these laws were really produced by people
and then attributed to the divine will.
9. So by obeying God we are really obeying ourselves.
10. But we hide this fact, and thereby hide our own
human powers of making choices from ourselves.
We are thereby [self-]alienated.
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Marx adopts Feuerbach:
just as capitalism alienates a person from his/her labor,
so religion alienates a person from the person’s true self
as “creator” of God and morality.
To repeat: why do we do this?
Capitalism causes distress; the worker needs relief.
Religion is “the opium of the people.”
and the “sigh of the oppressed” at the same time.
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Pals analysis of Marx on religion:
It is a reductionistic functionalism.
Similar to Durkheim’s stress on social factors,
unlike Freud’s stress on the individual, as we will see.
But agrees with Freud and not with Durkheim,
because Marx thinks society could get along
quite well without religion, if economics change.
[In fact Freud eventually decided that most people would
never get “rational” enough to abandon religion.]
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Pals critique of Marx on religion:
[a superficial mention of a couple points here]
1. Marx’s picture does not explain
primitive religion – which is no opium.
Before private property, no need for religion.
- Some facts of history do not seem to fit with Marx’s
theory – perhaps Protestantism produced
capitalism, for example, instead of the opposite.
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
A theological addition to the analysis –
i.e., how might a theologian respond to Marx:
There are too many variant possibilities overlooked by
reductionism:
1. Divine revelation / inspiration always has to be
filtered through limited human consciousness,
and thus religion takes on odd forms and jobs.
2. There is a divine presence working through all
history, which accounts for the human tendency
to think there is indeed a God.
3. When religion gives consolation, that is a sign of
the value of religion.
Karl Marx (and Feuerbach)
Pals, pp. 134-148
Theological critique of Marx
1. Feuerbach & Marx do not prove there is no God.
They just plant a suspicion
by arguing that we have motives to invent “God.”
- Feuerbach dismisses belief in an Infinite
and therefore incomprehensible God.
He first insists that the real God of religion
is anthropomorphic -- humanlike.
This allows him to claim we make God in our image.
This allows him to treat God as though a mere god.
