Only a radical knowledge, like philosophy, can provoke an equally radical change. Sure, not all philosophy is equal, and not all philosophers are interested in a transformation as stated by Marx. But the bottom line is the kind of philosophy that you are professing.
Claudio Chipana
In an early text titled “Theses on Feuerrbach”, published by Engels in 1888, Marx said that “Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” This has since become one of Marx’s most quoted phrases, together with his no less famous, “Workers of all countries unite.” Both were engraved onto his tombstone at Highgate cemetery in London. Marx tried to divide the history of philosophy between what had happened so far and that of a specific mission, in the same way that philosophers at the Frankfurt School spoke of traditional philosophy and critical philosophy.
With his departure from contemplative philosophy, Marx aimed to rescue philosophy from its slump that had made its role in life ineffective.
For Marx, philosophy could achieve a revolutionary role and is not simply useful as a mere instrumental knowledge.
Clearly philosophy is not the only knowledge that can have an impact on life. It is easy to see that society has changed quite a bit thanks to scientific and technological development, as well as the huge impact made by humanities and the arts.
Marx does not ignore these technological changes, what he refers to as “productive forces” in society. Rather, he thinks about qualitative change in society as a whole. That is, in a transformation of capitalist “relations of production”. This is evident in his later writings, the prologue of “Contribution to the critique of political economy” (1859) is an example.
For Marx, capitalism is not only machines; it is not only technology, but also a specific social relationship between the bourgeois and the working class. Under capitalism, the capital appropriates its products though capitalist exploitation. Consequently, for Marx the world could not be transformed without overthrowing capitalism.
However, one doubt remains, how can philosophical knowledge – considered to be of little use, abstract and superfluous – be capable of transforming not only one aspect of society, but society as a whole?
It is not that philosophers are privileged or selective. But philosophy, since ancient times, has been different to other general sciences and understands the whole of reality. Philosophy must be primarily critical and transformative.
Philosophical categories, whether epistemological or ethical, are not about the particular. So it is possible to speak of radical philosophy and its revolutionary power.
For Marx, philosophy seeks not only to change minds, but its main aim is to make real-world change.
So, it is not just an inner peace in the isolated individual what this philosophy – also called critical or philosophy of the praxis – is looking for, but rather a transformation of the material conditions of existence in society.
Only a radical knowledge, like philosophy, can provoke an equally radical change. Sure, not all philosophy is equal, and not all philosophers are interested in a transformation as stated by Marx. But the bottom line is the kind of philosophy that you are professing.
(Translated by Grace Essex – Email: grace.essex@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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