The German Ideology

The Hegelian dialectic describes how the thesis produces a reaction, called the antithesis, which challenges the original thesis. The solution to the two is called the synthesis. Hegelian dialectics suggest that no original idea is perfect and that it must pass through its negation to become concrete.

Marx and Engels adopted Hegel’s concept of the dialectic to develop what they called dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism is a mode of reasoning, or a way of understanding reality. It draws from Hegel’s tripartite theory but it focuses on material conditions. Therefore, it combines dialectics and materialism. Dialectical materialism asserts the primacy of matter over the mind. Matter is in constant change, and all matter is interconnected. Dialectical materialism seeks to concretely understand things that are in constant process, movement, change, and interconnection. Marx argues that the tensions between contradictions and their solutions are caused by material needs. Historical events can be understood as a series of conflicts and their solutions. Dialectical materialism is the theoretical basis for the working class’s struggle to attain a more equitable human society.

Hegelian is a term used to describe the idealist philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831). Hegelian philosophy contends that the rational alone is real, and that all of reality can be expressed in rational, or mental, categories.

Historical materialism is a Marxist term that describes the progression of history through class struggle.

All ideas and thoughts come from existing material conditions. The ideas of the ruling class are the dominant ideas; therefore, ideology is used by the ruling class to maintain the status quo. Systems like nationality, religion, and family are examples of ideology. Every revolution presents new ideas that become orthodoxy.

The means of production are capital goods like raw materials, machinery, and tools. They are used to produce financial value.

Negative unity is also called the unity of opposites. It describes the coming together of two mutually exclusive moments in synthesis.

The proletariat are a class of wage-workers. They are also called the working class. Their labor power is their only significant material asset. They sell their labor to the bourgeoise who own the means of production.

This term references Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. The novel is about a castaway stranded on a desert island. The term “robinsonades” describes the fantasy of a man exiled from society who has to survive in the wild. This utopian ideal of the individual who escapes society to exist in state is dismissed by Marx as ahistorical. Marx uses the expression in the “Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy” to dismiss theories of human nature employed by Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Marx challenges the tradition of political economy, which argues that specialized tasks arose in society on the basis of self-interest and competitive advantage. This theory shows man progressing from a state of nature through the division of labor. The character Crusoe divides his tasks carefully to maximize his efficiency. Marx describes how political economists like Smith and Ricardo use this framework to make the primitive hunter or fisher a precursor to an acquisitive, capitalist society.