What are some of the criticisms that Nietzsche might make of Marx's political vision and critique of modernity. Your answer might address the following aspects of Marx's political theory: Marx's approach to human history. Marx's ideal of human emancipation, Marx's critique of contemporary morality and religion. Can you identify any points of agreement between Nietzsche and Marx?.
Response.
Both Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Marx are considered to be philosophers of suspicion, despite the several differences between the two. Both intellectuals question and challenge the external forces that have historically steered the development of humanity. While Marx's approaches his sociological, political, and economic framework from a materialist perspective, Nietzsche presents his philosophies on such subjects from a more vitalistic approach. Though both philosophers interpret the forces that drive humanity from different spectrums, they both critique and recognize how manmade morality and religion impede with one discovering their individual truth. .
Throughout Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto, the sociologist discusses how the history of a society's economic structure will determine the contemporary societal conditions. Marx argues that tension between socioeconomic classes, or the exploitation of one class on another, influences the evolution of history (Marx, 201). While the economic structure of a society remains constant, society experiences political and social development. Therefore, it is inevitable that the means of production cease to be compatible with the class structure as is, thus leading to a revolutionary change (Marx, 213). For Marx, human history is driven by the forces of continuous class struggles that will eventually lead to a historic revolution in which a new ruling class will arise. In contrast, Nietzsche's On Genealogy of Morality argues that history has no underlying value and is ultimately meaningless when attempting to steer contemporary times.