WEBVTT

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Prof: Well I would like
to get started.

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Good morning.

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In the discussion section I
realized I sort of screwed my

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last lecture.

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It didn't come quite clearly
through;

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either Hegel or Marx's theory
of alienation.

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So I would like to come back to
the theory of alienation and how

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Marx gets to The Paris
Manuscripts,

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before we get into historical
materialism.

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And let me just make two
introductory comments about

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this.

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One important point I tried to
make is you have to be--

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I think one purpose of my
lectures in Marx is to alert you

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that there were two Marx's,
not just one,

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and you are likely to know only
about one Marx.

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Right?

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This is Marx,
who had the theory of class

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struggle and the theory of
exploitation--right?--and who

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was a theorist of Communism.

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But you may know very little
about Marx, the idealist,

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the Hegelian,
the humanist,

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whose central idea was the
notion of alienation.

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Right?

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Whose major concern was about
the human conditions under

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modernity and wanted to overcome
it.

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And, you know,
these two very different Marx's

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appeal to very different
audiences.

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In fact, the first Marx--the
humanist,

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the Hegelian,
the idealist--was almost

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forgotten for a very long time,
and was rediscovered by the

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1960s onwards,
generally.

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So it's very important to see
that most likely that what you

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heard about Marx--
and I suppose most of you have

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never read any text from Marx--
is a biased view.

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You only know one Marx and not
both.

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And my point is to try to
introduce you to the complexity,

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that you meet both Karl Marx.

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Right?

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The second point is that--what
I found frustrating in the

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discussion section yesterday,
which was one of the worst I

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did in the last couple of
years--

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not ever in my life I did even
worse discussion sections,

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but this was real bad--that,
you know,

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the importance and the
significance of Marx's theory of

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alienation did not come through.

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And I obviously did a very bad
job,

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because there are very few
texts, written in the

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seventeenth,
eighteenth and nineteenth

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centuries,
which are so powerful and so

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influential,
and so broadly influential,

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on theories of the twentieth
century,

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than exactly this text on
alienation.

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You can think about
literature--right?--and you can

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see the extraordinary impact of
the idea of alienation in

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literature.

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Some of you may have read
Albert Camus,

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the French novelist--The
Stranger.

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This is right out of the theory
of alienation.

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You may be familiar with Franz
Kafka, right?

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There you go.

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That's the sense of alienation.

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You may have watched ever the
play, wonderful play,

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of Henrik Ibsen,
Peer Gynt.

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That's about alienation. Right?

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So in the twentieth century
literature, we are full with the

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senses of alienation.

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And so is twentieth century
social theory.

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There is no twentieth century
social theory without the theory

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of alienation.

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By the way, it's interesting,
because The Paris

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Manuscript,
for the first time,

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was published only in 1931.

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Nevertheless,
the idea was already beginning

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to creep in earlier.

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Smart people read the theory of
alienation in Marx earlier;

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And then the Frankfurt School.

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There is no Adorno,
there is no Horkheimer,

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there is no Marcuse,
without the theory of

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alienation.

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And I can go even further.

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There is no cultural theory
without the theory of

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alienation.

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There is no Bauman,
there is no Kolakowski,

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without the theory of
alienation.

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This is a very important idea.

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So I have to come back to this
and to try to show you how he

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arrives at this point,
and why he abandons it--why the

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second Marx is emerging.

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And then we get,
starting with the second Marx,

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the first step towards the
second Marx is the "Theses

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on Feuerbach," what
I want to talk about today.

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And I'll try to economize with
my time, right?

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Right?

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I have to learn from Adam
Smith--right?--to be more

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utilitarian and to make sure
that means and ends do match

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with each other.

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Okay, let's come back to Hegel
and Hegel's theory of

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alienation.

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Because I don't think--from the
discussion section my sense was

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I did not make it clear enough,
what Hegel's theory is.

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And well let me try to labor on
this.

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As I said, you know,
he was an idealist,

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and I hope I explained it to
the extent it is necessary.

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I will come back to this when I
will be talking about the

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"Theses on Feuerbach"
and The German Ideology.

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But he really thought that
somehow consciousness precedes

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material existence,
and that's what made him into

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an idealist.

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How religious he was I actually
don't know.

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This is not a religious,
not a theological proposition.

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Right?

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The idea is that before the
physical world existed,

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there has been an absolute
spirit.

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Right?

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At the origin of the world,
there is an absolute spirit

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existing, and that exists in the
material world as such.

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And then his central idea is
that you can describe the

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history of the universe as a
problem of alienation,

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as a problem of gradual
separation,

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as I said, from subject and
object.

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This is a very important idea,
and we will have to deal with

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this in Marx.

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And even if you are dealing
with twentieth century theories,

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critical theory,
this is a central notion of,

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you know, subject and object.

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Let me try to labor on this a
minute.

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And I have to do it on the
blackboard.

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So Hegel's fundamental idea is
that when you have the absolute

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spirit--right?--and this is not
a personal God but just the

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idea.

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Here this is a situation of
totality.

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The absolute spirit is at the
same time subject and object,

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united in itself.

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Right?

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And that's what Hegel calls
totality.

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And there's the term totality
being used later on in critical

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theory.

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And we are saying we are
searching for totality,

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we are searching for the unity
of subject and object.

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Well in Hegel's,
the second stage is that

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subject and object are divided
from each other.

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<<Professor writes on
blackboard>>

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There is the material world
without consciousness,

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and consciousness becomes
absolute consciousness because

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it's kind of projected the
material world out of itself.

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Right?

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And this is the--this is the
situation of alienation.

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Object becomes separate.

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Then, as human beings emerge,
subject and object beginning to

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merge.

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Right?

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Consciousness emerges. Right?

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Consciousness--right?

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These are subject--this is
you--and object are the

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conditions of your life.

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Right?

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Another person you are
interacting with is an object of

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your interaction.

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Or the conditions of your life.

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Right?

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The objective conditions.

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This room.

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At Yale University the
construction which is going out

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there--right?--is our objective
conditions.

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Right?

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And you are the subject who are
reflecting on it.

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But because you are gaining
some consciousness,

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you are beginning to conquer
the objective conditions of your

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life.

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And what he's suggesting,
that alienation will overcome

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when your subject will be able
to control the objective

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conditions of your life.

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Right?

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Where your consciousness is
adequate to your existence.

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Right?

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When you are the master of your
life, you are a master of your

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conditions.

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It is not the conditions which
rule you, but you are the master

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of the conditions.

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Right?

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That is the key idea in Hegel.

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And Marx is very much following
this idea.

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I mean, he of course eliminates
the whole idea of absolute

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spirit.

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Right?

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He doesn't want to deal with
the idea of absolute spirit.

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For him this is too speculative.

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He's also bothered by the idea
that you can overcome the

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problem of alienation simply by
thought.

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Right?

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Marx's project is to bring this
whole idea of alienation down to

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earth,
to everyday experience,

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to your experience and your
experience of,

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I would use the term,
modernity, until 1944.

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Marx does not have a concept of
capitalism or capitalist mode of

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production.

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Right?

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He even just vaguely thinks
about private ownership.

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He's really trying to
conceptualize modernity,

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modern industrial urban life,
as distinct from earlier

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communal life--
the life what we had in more

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intimate communities,
peasants of the villages or

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whatever.

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Right?

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He tries to conceptualize this.

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He sees this as a progress,
modernity as a progress.

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But we have to pay a heavy
price for it,

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and the price what we pay for
this modernity is the separation

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of subject and object.

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Right?

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The peasant in a village was
not separated from the objective

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conditions of his existence.

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It was united with the
objective conditions.

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It was bound to the earth.

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Right?

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Even the slaves were not
separated from the objective

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conditions of their existence.

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They were treated as objects.

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Right?

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There was no subject separated
from the object.

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So the unique--this is Marx,
this is not Hegel anymore--

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the unique feature of
alienation, that you have this

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separation from subject and
object,

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in modern conditions. Right?

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And I think this is why Marx's
theory of alienation survived

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Marx's theory of exploitation.

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That the young Marx survived
the old Marx;

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the first Marx survived the
second Marx.

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Because we can all relate more
if you have a good lecturer,

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and who brings more effectively
to you what he's getting at.

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You can relate more,
you can say much more,

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"Oh yeah,
I feel alienated in this

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class." Right?

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"That makes no sense to
me." Right?

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"This doesn't make any
sense to my life,

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and I have to sit there because
I'm a sociology major and I have

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to take this bloody class."

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Right?

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Then you are alienated. Right?

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And this is when you
will--that's what you will say.

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Right?

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"I am alienated because I
have to do this nonsense because

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they force me to do so."

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Then you are alienated.

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This is exactly what Marx is
getting at.

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Right?

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Well in a way it is your
choice.

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Right?

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You declared a sociology major.

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Right?

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But then you are forced to do
stuff what you don't really want

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to do.

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So it doesn't mean that you are
not free.

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You are free,
but within your freedom you are

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alienated because you don't
control your conditions,

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and it looks like that within
your freedom,

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within your free choice,
you are forced to do stuff.

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Right?

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This is what Marx is trying to
get at.

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You think you are free,
you think you are equal with

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others, and you are really not
free.

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Because the objective
conditions, what you created for

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yourself--right?

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You got into trouble. Right?

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Who forced you to be a
sociology major?

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Nobody.

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And then you are in the trouble
that you have to do-- take

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certain hurdles.

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But you feel alienated and you
don't feel that your whole

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personality is being developed.

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Right?

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To put it with John Stuart
Mill, you don't feel

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self-development.

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Then you are alienated,
unduly so.

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Right?

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Is that a bit coming closer to
it?

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Makes more sense?

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All right.

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Now let me therefore also show
you how Marx gets to it.

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I think this is very important.

14:35.330 --> 14:40.110
And I skipped all of this stuff
because I was trying to get very

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quickly--I was trying to get too
quickly--to the notion,

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Marx's theory of alienation.

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And now I would like to correct
this.

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And I already foreshadowed in
my last lecture that these are

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formidable years for Marx,
1843 and 1844.

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In two years his intellectual
development is quite

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extraordinary.

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Let me follow you through of
these intellectual developments.

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In the summer of 1843,
he writes this book,

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Contributions to a Critique
of Hegel's Philosophy of Right;

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or Hegel's Philosophy of
Law.

15:23.808 --> 15:37.628
Well Hegel has gone through a
long development intellectually.

15:37.629 --> 15:41.249
He started out as a radical,
an admirer of the French

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Revolution,
and as he was getting older he

15:44.408 --> 15:48.398
was becoming more and more
conservative and was becoming

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concerned about the consequences
of the French Revolution.

15:52.830 --> 15:59.680
And as he became,
you know, more conservative,

15:59.678 --> 16:02.268
he was--he said,
"Well what is happening

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with the French after the French
Revolution is not really what I

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wanted.

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Because now the French
Revolution is actually splitting

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the society in two classes,
capital and labor."

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It's not exactly the
terminology what he means,

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but that's what Hegel is
getting at in The

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Philosophy of Right.

16:23.259 --> 16:26.469
"And who can tell who is
right and who is wrong?

16:26.470 --> 16:28.920
They are in conflict with each
other.

16:28.918 --> 16:32.508
The employers or the owners
want something,

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and the workers want something
else.

16:35.759 --> 16:41.309
They both represent
particularistic interests.

16:41.308 --> 16:44.318
But where is the universalistic
interests?"

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So asked Hegel.

16:45.980 --> 16:48.770
There must be some universal
justice.

16:48.769 --> 16:53.059
To put it in the terminology we
used in this course before,

16:53.062 --> 16:56.992
there must be something like
common good, which brings

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capital and labor together.

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Where will this common good
come from?

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And in The Philosophy of
Right he offers an

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interesting theory.

17:08.318 --> 17:13.298
He said it will come from the
government, it comes from the

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state.

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The state should represent the
universal instance.

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And then he said, "Well,
you know, the society,

17:22.482 --> 17:27.462
modern bourgeois society which
emerged as a result of the

17:27.455 --> 17:31.285
French Revolution,
is divided into these

17:31.286 --> 17:33.516
particularistic classes.

17:33.519 --> 17:39.039
But we need a universal agent,
a universal class,

17:39.038 --> 17:43.268
which represents the common
good, and this must be the

17:43.271 --> 17:47.111
government,
this must be the class of civil

17:47.114 --> 17:48.524
servants."

17:48.519 --> 17:51.519
And in the book,
Philosophy of Right--

17:51.519 --> 17:54.229
which is his kind of last major
book,

17:54.230 --> 17:59.470
writes it not long before he
dies--he argues these are the

17:59.469 --> 18:04.249
civil servants who constitute
the universal class.

18:04.250 --> 18:07.050
Now this is not a silly idea.

18:07.049 --> 18:09.829
We do think about it this way.

18:09.828 --> 18:13.708
And yes, I mean,
he builds in many respects,

18:13.710 --> 18:18.780
in a more sophisticated way,
on Locke and Rousseau and the

18:18.776 --> 18:22.856
idea of general will,
particularly in Rousseau. Right?

18:22.858 --> 18:25.818
And this is the state which
should represent the general

18:25.817 --> 18:26.087
will.

18:26.086 --> 18:26.566
Right?

18:26.568 --> 18:31.338
And we also occasionally think
about it this way.

18:31.335 --> 18:32.125
Right?

18:32.130 --> 18:36.120
There are all these conflicts
around this country,

18:36.124 --> 18:41.184
and we expect the government to
express the universal interest,

18:41.178 --> 18:43.948
to innervate the general will.

18:43.950 --> 18:47.850
We expect occasionally the
federal government to do that,

18:47.847 --> 18:51.327
and the federal government
occasionally does it.

18:51.328 --> 18:55.018
You have read about the Civil
Rights Movement.

18:55.019 --> 19:02.169
I mean, who was the agency
which made sure that the states

19:02.167 --> 19:08.687
actually obey the laws and
integrates the schools?

19:08.690 --> 19:11.190
It was the federal government.

19:11.194 --> 19:11.784
Right?

19:11.778 --> 19:15.628
It was Bobby Kennedy who went
down and made sure that the

19:15.626 --> 19:18.026
southern states do follow the
rules.

19:18.031 --> 19:18.721
Right?

19:18.720 --> 19:25.050
We expected the government to
express the universal interest.

19:25.046 --> 19:25.886
Right?

19:25.890 --> 19:27.920
So it's not silly.

19:27.920 --> 19:30.360
But Marx, in a way,
said, "Well,

19:30.363 --> 19:32.063
that's not that simple.

19:36.910 --> 19:40.390
And he said,
"Well the government is

19:40.387 --> 19:44.907
not that non-partial as we would
like it to be."

19:44.910 --> 19:45.780
Right?

19:45.779 --> 19:51.279
If you are rich,
you have more influence on what

19:51.280 --> 19:56.550
the government does,
rather when you are poor.

19:56.548 --> 19:57.718
Right?

19:57.720 --> 20:03.120
There are lobbyists in
Washington DC,

20:03.123 --> 20:10.633
and you probably have very
little leverage on these

20:10.627 --> 20:12.727
lobbyists.

20:12.730 --> 20:17.920
Big business has a lot of
leverage on these lobbyists.

20:17.916 --> 20:18.696
Right?

20:18.700 --> 20:22.290
And they, of course,
have a great deal of pressure

20:22.288 --> 20:24.778
on what the legislature will do.

20:24.778 --> 20:31.008
Just follow what is happening
with the healthcare legislation.

20:31.009 --> 20:35.579
Well you can call your
congressman and you can send

20:35.579 --> 20:39.049
emails, you know,
and can send letters,

20:39.053 --> 20:42.073
and ask them to do something.

20:42.068 --> 20:44.908
But believe me,
when the pharmaceutical

20:44.911 --> 20:48.951
industry spends a lot of money
and tells a senator,

20:48.950 --> 20:51.860
you know, "Unless you vote
this way or that way,

20:51.858 --> 20:56.258
we probably may not be able to
support your next electoral

20:56.259 --> 20:59.819
campaign"--
right?--then it will make more

20:59.816 --> 21:02.196
impact than your individual
email.

21:02.200 --> 21:02.850
Right?

21:02.848 --> 21:06.488
Not that you should not send
individual emails.

21:06.490 --> 21:07.860
Send it. Right?

21:07.859 --> 21:08.499
Be involved.

21:08.500 --> 21:12.720
But be aware that the
government is sent to be more

21:12.715 --> 21:15.325
responsible for big business.

21:15.328 --> 21:17.108
"So",
he said, "How can it be

21:17.106 --> 21:18.096
universal class?"

21:18.098 --> 21:22.688
That's really the point what
he's making in The Philosophy

21:22.686 --> 21:23.676
of Right.

21:23.681 --> 21:24.371
Right?

21:24.369 --> 21:26.559
The state is not universal.

21:26.559 --> 21:29.149
It pretends to be universal.

21:29.150 --> 21:32.210
It has to pretend to be
universal in order to be

21:32.214 --> 21:35.154
legitimate, but really it is not
universal.

21:35.150 --> 21:39.320
And the civil servants are,
of course, not a universal

21:39.319 --> 21:39.949
class.

21:39.950 --> 21:42.240
Occasionally they are quite
corrupt.

21:42.244 --> 21:42.774
Right?

21:42.769 --> 21:45.449
Not in the United States,
of course, but in some

21:45.450 --> 21:48.360
countries I can think of civil
servants are corrupt.

21:48.358 --> 21:48.928
Right?

21:48.930 --> 21:52.430
You know, and then they are
offered, you know,

21:52.432 --> 21:55.472
a free seat,
you know, on a private jet,

21:55.470 --> 21:56.950
they accept it.

21:56.950 --> 22:00.210
And then they accepted it,
they do something for the owner

22:00.210 --> 22:01.360
of that private jet.

22:01.355 --> 22:01.865
Right?

22:01.868 --> 22:05.418
So there are some civil
servants who are not all that

22:05.424 --> 22:08.644
innocent--right?--and they can
be influenced.

22:08.640 --> 22:11.340
So it is not all that universal
class.

22:11.338 --> 22:15.538
They are--not all civil
servants are angels.

22:15.538 --> 22:16.318
Right?

22:16.318 --> 22:20.018
Some of them are,
some of them are not.

22:20.019 --> 22:23.539
In fact, he concludes the
unfinished book,

22:23.535 --> 22:28.675
"that really the problem
is that we don't have universal

22:28.680 --> 22:32.880
suffrage";
writes he in 1843.

22:32.880 --> 22:35.590
And he said,
"Let's have universal

22:35.593 --> 22:38.233
suffrage,
and then if we in free

22:38.230 --> 22:42.280
elections universally elect the
representatives,

22:42.279 --> 22:43.889
the problem will be gone."

22:43.890 --> 22:47.270
As we know, he was not quite
right.

22:47.265 --> 22:48.055
Right?

22:48.058 --> 22:53.228
We have all equal vote but we
do not have all equal voice.

22:53.232 --> 22:53.962
Right?

22:53.960 --> 23:01.120
I think that's--but Marx here
is still a bourgeois liberal;

23:01.118 --> 23:06.538
as of the summer of 1843
believes the problem will be

23:06.540 --> 23:07.480
solved.

23:07.480 --> 23:10.960
Now let me rush through and
show you the kind of

23:10.963 --> 23:15.563
intellectual development--and I
briefly pointed out to this.

23:15.558 --> 23:20.258
These are the three important
steps which follows this

23:20.259 --> 23:22.299
abandoned manuscript.

23:22.298 --> 23:25.978
He now enters the road of
radicalization,

23:25.984 --> 23:30.784
moves away from Hegel,
and tries to carve out his own

23:30.776 --> 23:34.366
intellectual and political
project.

23:34.368 --> 23:37.828
And he writes the paper
"On the Jewish

23:37.827 --> 23:40.377
Question"
in which he says,

23:40.380 --> 23:42.850
"Well Hegel is right.

23:42.849 --> 23:45.009
We need something universal.

23:45.009 --> 23:49.089
We should not allow society
just to be the struggle of

23:49.092 --> 23:51.562
particularistic interests."

23:51.556 --> 23:52.246
Right?

23:52.250 --> 23:57.120
This is in a way against Adam
Smith's utilitarianism.

23:57.118 --> 24:00.418
It's not enough that
individuals fight each others'

24:00.424 --> 24:03.004
interests out,
and that will end up to a

24:03.002 --> 24:04.262
universal good.

24:04.259 --> 24:08.919
We need some universal good to
be achieved, and it will not

24:08.924 --> 24:12.384
simply achieved by
particularistic interests

24:12.384 --> 24:13.434
followed.

24:13.430 --> 24:15.980
That is Marx's point.

24:15.980 --> 24:19.120
But then he writes an
introduction to the

24:19.123 --> 24:22.973
Critique--
Contributions to the Critique

24:22.973 --> 24:26.043
of Hegel's Philosophy of
Right.

24:26.038 --> 24:28.798
And in this introduction he
said, "Well,

24:28.796 --> 24:31.986
we need something;
universal emancipation.

24:31.990 --> 24:36.270
But who will bring universal
emancipation to humankind?"

24:36.269 --> 24:36.839
Right?

24:36.838 --> 24:40.728
He's looking for an agent who
can carry this out.

24:40.730 --> 24:44.050
And in the introduction,
he said, "This will be the

24:44.050 --> 24:45.260
proletariat."

24:45.259 --> 24:49.539
Well you may say now he's
entering the wrong road--

24:49.538 --> 24:54.128
right?--and he's entering a
very--he's basically painting

24:54.130 --> 24:57.560
himself in the corner,
where he will be for the rest

24:57.561 --> 25:00.211
of his life,
trying to show that indeed the

25:00.212 --> 25:02.662
proletariat will emancipate us
all,

25:02.660 --> 25:05.620
and will create a good society
as such.

25:05.618 --> 25:08.858
But people, when they are
reading the introduction--and I

25:08.858 --> 25:12.388
will give you a few citations
from it because it's a beautiful

25:12.387 --> 25:13.427
piece of work.

25:13.430 --> 25:16.900
In many ways it is wonderful
poetry.

25:16.900 --> 25:21.080
He has some extraordinary
framing of the problem.

25:21.078 --> 25:23.348
But then, you know,
his critics said,

25:23.348 --> 25:25.238
"What a nonsense."

25:25.240 --> 25:27.160
You know?

25:27.160 --> 25:29.060
"Why on earth the
proletariat?

25:29.058 --> 25:31.878
As we all know,
the workers are dumb.

25:31.880 --> 25:36.640
I mean, you are saying that we,
the critical philosophers,

25:36.635 --> 25:39.385
we cannot emancipate humankind?

25:39.390 --> 25:43.170
But you think that these
ordinary workers,

25:43.166 --> 25:47.766
with alienated consciousness,
they will bring us an

25:47.772 --> 25:49.802
unalienated world?

25:49.799 --> 25:51.099
How comes?

25:51.099 --> 25:52.699
What nonsense is this?"

25:52.700 --> 25:55.200
So that's when he writes The
Paris Manuscripts,

25:55.200 --> 25:59.460
and tries to now bring the
whole idea of alienation down to

25:59.459 --> 26:03.349
earth,
to fill it with some economic

26:03.347 --> 26:04.347
content.

26:04.348 --> 26:07.678
That's why now he tries to
relate it to commodity

26:07.679 --> 26:11.029
production,
and make the claim that though

26:11.032 --> 26:14.372
in modern society everybody's
alienated,

26:14.368 --> 26:18.728
but they are only the workers
who are fully alienated,

26:18.730 --> 26:21.870
and their interest is to
overcome the alienation.

26:21.868 --> 26:26.448
That's what--this is why he
tries to argue that alienation

26:26.450 --> 26:30.870
will bring the working class to
emancipate humankind;

26:30.869 --> 26:33.109
that is the project.

26:33.108 --> 26:36.488
Of course, he never publishes
the book,

26:36.490 --> 26:39.490
because after he wrote it down,
he said,

26:39.490 --> 26:41.700
"Well"-- I suppose he
said, "Well,

26:41.700 --> 26:43.430
this is quite nicely written.

26:43.430 --> 26:45.030
I have a couple of good ideas.

26:45.029 --> 26:47.819
But nobody will believe
me." Right?

26:47.818 --> 26:51.128
"The working class will
not go on the barricades and die

26:51.126 --> 26:54.156
because I am telling them that
they are alienated."

26:54.157 --> 26:54.707
Right?

26:54.710 --> 26:58.100
"They don't care about
alienation.

26:58.098 --> 27:00.998
I have to come up some-- some
better reason,

27:00.996 --> 27:04.496
you know, why the working class
will revolt."

27:04.500 --> 27:06.920
And that's the end of the young
Marx.

27:06.920 --> 27:11.060
And now he's beginning to read
Adam Smith and Ricardo and

27:11.055 --> 27:12.375
political economy.

27:12.384 --> 27:13.054
Right?

27:13.048 --> 27:16.918
And he's beginning to develop
his theory of exploitation.

27:16.920 --> 27:21.420
This is the young or mature
Marx, and we will talk about him

27:21.415 --> 27:22.555
very briefly.

27:22.558 --> 27:26.488
Now just a couple of ideas
here.

27:26.493 --> 27:27.513
Right?

27:27.509 --> 27:29.879
What about "On the Jewish
Question",

27:29.878 --> 27:30.878
what is at stake?

27:30.880 --> 27:35.760
Bruno Bauer wrote a paper on
the origins of anti-Semitism,

27:35.759 --> 27:39.199
and he said,
"We have anti-Semitism in

27:39.203 --> 27:42.653
Germany because the state is
Christian,

27:42.650 --> 27:46.070
and as long as the state is
Christian it will discriminate

27:46.068 --> 27:47.208
against the Jews.

27:47.210 --> 27:50.980
So the solution is to separate
the state and the church,

27:50.978 --> 27:53.098
to have political emancipation.

27:53.103 --> 27:53.723
Right?

27:53.720 --> 27:56.600
And if we have political
emancipation,

27:56.595 --> 27:59.155
we abolish anti-Semitism."

27:59.160 --> 28:03.860
Now Marx takes his point here
and he said, "Look,

28:03.859 --> 28:06.609
this guy is completely wrong.

28:06.608 --> 28:10.528
Look at the United States,
the church and the state are

28:10.527 --> 28:13.197
separated,
and in the nineteenth century

28:13.202 --> 28:16.252
there was quite a bit of
anti-Semitism in the United

28:16.252 --> 28:17.212
States."

28:17.210 --> 28:20.200
Not only in the nineteenth
century.

28:20.200 --> 28:24.830
In this very institution,
in the 1920s and '30s,

28:24.830 --> 28:28.280
there was a lot of
anti-Semitism.

28:28.278 --> 28:31.968
There's a wonderful
sociologist, Jeremy Karabel,

28:31.970 --> 28:36.860
who wrote a great book about
admission policies of Ivy League

28:36.856 --> 28:41.606
universities in the 1920s,
and he was able to prove that

28:41.607 --> 28:45.087
Ivy League universities,
including Yale,

28:45.092 --> 28:47.422
actually applied a quota.

28:47.420 --> 28:52.240
They never admitted more Jews
to Yale than the average Jewish

28:52.244 --> 28:54.984
population in the United States.

28:54.980 --> 28:57.300
Believe it or not.

28:57.298 --> 29:00.978
It was never official policy
but it was practiced all the

29:00.980 --> 29:01.440
time.

29:01.440 --> 29:04.850
So, I mean, there was
anti-Semitism.

29:04.848 --> 29:09.628
Anti-Semitism can exist if the
state and church are separated,

29:09.634 --> 29:12.854
if the state is supposed to be
secular.

29:12.848 --> 29:17.208
And Marx said,
"Where does come like

29:17.212 --> 29:19.942
racism come from?"

29:19.940 --> 29:23.400
He said it comes from,
what he said,

29:23.397 --> 29:24.977
civil society.

29:24.980 --> 29:27.720
He doesn't have the notion of
capitalism.

29:27.720 --> 29:32.100
He said this is rooted in
people's everyday experience and

29:32.096 --> 29:32.786
interest.

29:32.788 --> 29:33.478
Right?

29:33.480 --> 29:39.220
Anti-Semitism comes from civil
society because some people feel

29:39.215 --> 29:41.525
threatened by the Jews.

29:41.529 --> 29:46.259
Why is there,
you know, anti-African American

29:46.258 --> 29:47.438
feelings?

29:47.440 --> 29:52.300
Because some people feel
threatened by African Americans.

29:52.296 --> 29:52.986
Right?

29:52.990 --> 29:56.310
And this is why there is racism.

29:56.308 --> 30:00.148
So you have to fix the problems
in civil society.

30:00.150 --> 30:04.350
The problem is in civil
society, not in the state.

30:04.348 --> 30:09.088
Therefore what you need is
universal emancipation.

30:09.088 --> 30:11.668
That's the bottom line of
"On the Jewish

30:11.672 --> 30:12.672
Question."

30:12.670 --> 30:15.610
Is that reasonably clear?

30:15.609 --> 30:19.299
Okay, then let's go further.

30:19.299 --> 30:22.479
And this is the Introduction.

30:22.480 --> 30:29.390
Well there are some wonderful
stuff in this.

30:29.390 --> 30:34.380
It's more poetry than--it is
certainly not social science.

30:34.380 --> 30:37.730
I would say more poetry,
but very forcefully done.

30:37.730 --> 30:42.540
Well he said,
"What we have to do is to

30:42.538 --> 30:48.468
move beyond Feuerbach,
who simply sort of contemplated

30:48.468 --> 30:51.598
on the situations."

30:51.598 --> 30:54.888
And he said,
"Once the holy form of

30:54.894 --> 30:59.884
human self-estrangement has been
unmasked"--that's what

30:59.877 --> 31:01.057
Feuerbach did.

31:01.059 --> 31:01.989
Right?

31:01.990 --> 31:07.890
He did show that alienation is
our--we're projecting our

31:07.894 --> 31:10.794
alienation by creating God.

31:10.792 --> 31:11.762
Right?

31:11.759 --> 31:18.069
He said, "Now the task is
to unmask self-estrangement or

31:18.067 --> 31:22.797
alienation in its unholy
form." Right?

31:22.798 --> 31:26.998
In the everyday life--in your
everyday experience--especially

31:27.000 --> 31:29.100
in your economic activities.

31:29.098 --> 31:32.248
That is the point what he tries
to make.

31:32.250 --> 31:36.710
Then he goes further and he
says, "Well the Young

31:36.708 --> 31:39.988
Hegelians said 'Be a critical
critic;

31:39.990 --> 31:42.350
criticize the Hegelian
theory'."

31:42.348 --> 31:46.218
And I think this is a fantastic
sentence;

31:46.220 --> 31:48.390
again, it's beautiful poetry.

31:48.390 --> 31:53.330
Very dangerous and let a lot of
trouble in history.

31:53.328 --> 31:56.538
In a way I wish he would not
have written it down.

31:56.538 --> 32:00.938
But I love that he did write it
down, because it's a beautiful

32:00.944 --> 32:01.744
sentence.

32:01.740 --> 32:06.080
"The weapon of criticism
cannot replace the criticism by

32:06.084 --> 32:07.104
weapons."

32:07.097 --> 32:07.747
Right?

32:07.750 --> 32:13.610
Well it's not enough to be
critical in thought.

32:13.608 --> 32:16.508
You have to be critical in
action.

32:16.507 --> 32:17.207
Right?

32:17.210 --> 32:18.720
You have to act on it.

32:18.720 --> 32:21.610
Just do not just talk.

32:21.609 --> 32:23.659
Do something about it.

32:23.660 --> 32:25.370
That's what it says.

32:25.368 --> 32:28.318
Well I think this is,
you know, one of the strongest

32:28.324 --> 32:31.224
sentences I have read in social
science literature.

32:31.220 --> 32:31.800
Right?

32:31.798 --> 32:35.598
"The weapon of criticism
cannot replace the criticism by

32:35.596 --> 32:36.606
weapons."

32:36.608 --> 32:40.338
Well this is also a great
sentence.

32:40.338 --> 32:46.668
"Theory becomes a material
force as soon as it has grabbed

32:46.670 --> 32:50.040
the masses--gripped the masses.

32:50.038 --> 32:55.268
Theory is capable of gripping
the masses as soon as it

32:55.270 --> 32:58.430
demonstrates ad hominem."

32:58.430 --> 33:01.240
Woo.

33:01.240 --> 33:03.200
That's quite something. Right?

33:03.200 --> 33:05.630
What he--right?

33:05.630 --> 33:09.120
He said, "Well the
question is what is a good

33:09.118 --> 33:12.608
theory, what will help you
emancipate yourself?

33:12.608 --> 33:17.518
Good, the essence of good
theory, that it grabs you,

33:17.521 --> 33:19.351
it grips you."

33:19.353 --> 33:20.223
Right?

33:20.220 --> 33:21.230
When you say,
"Uh-huh,

33:21.227 --> 33:22.077
it did hit me."

33:22.079 --> 33:24.689
This is theory. Right?

33:24.690 --> 33:30.420
But it can only be when it is
ad hominem, when it addresses

33:30.424 --> 33:31.814
your problems.

33:31.808 --> 33:32.698
Right?

33:32.700 --> 33:36.350
A theory, what you are lost,
you don't know why it is

33:36.345 --> 33:38.935
relevant for your life,
is no good.

33:38.940 --> 33:43.800
I would even go as far,
the theory which is boring is

33:43.804 --> 33:45.024
bad theory.

33:45.019 --> 33:47.889
What you need is fascinating
theory.

33:47.890 --> 33:49.580
You have to be fascinated.

33:49.579 --> 33:52.379
You have to be shocked. Right?

33:52.380 --> 33:55.780
You have to say,
"Yes, now I will live

33:55.779 --> 33:59.909
differently after I--this theory
I understood."

33:59.910 --> 34:00.720
Right?

34:00.720 --> 34:02.630
It has to move you.

34:02.630 --> 34:04.000
That's the good theory.

34:04.000 --> 34:09.130
I think that's a wonderful
point, and very powerfully done.

34:09.130 --> 34:12.610
And then he said,
"Well, what--well we say

34:12.608 --> 34:17.598
that the theory has to grab the
masses, but what kind of masses?

34:17.599 --> 34:19.319
Whom?

34:19.320 --> 34:20.680
Who is our audience?"

34:20.679 --> 34:24.619
Well, and he says,
"In order to carry out a

34:24.619 --> 34:27.049
revolutionary change."

34:27.050 --> 34:30.380
It's not enough to have a
theory, not enough to have

34:30.376 --> 34:30.896
ideas.

34:30.900 --> 34:35.930
"You may need",
he said--it's very problematic

34:35.934 --> 34:39.794
but very crucial to understand
the downside,

34:39.789 --> 34:42.649
the bad side of
Marxism--"a passive

34:42.652 --> 34:47.942
element,
a material base." Right?

34:47.940 --> 34:52.430
As you see, no matter how much
Marx glorifies the working

34:52.434 --> 34:56.294
class, he thinks about them as a
passive element.

34:56.286 --> 34:57.086
Right?

34:57.090 --> 34:59.890
Simply as a material base.

34:59.889 --> 35:03.449
And that is--who is that?

35:03.449 --> 35:04.499
The proletariat.

35:04.500 --> 35:06.180
And why?

35:06.179 --> 35:08.829
"Because it has nothing to
lose but its chains.

35:08.829 --> 35:12.979
It has a universal character,
and this is why it is a

35:12.983 --> 35:14.903
universal class."

35:14.900 --> 35:19.770
And, you know,
in 1843, it may have been quite

35:19.773 --> 35:20.643
right.

35:20.639 --> 35:24.169
The working class probably had
little else to lose but its

35:24.172 --> 35:24.732
chains.

35:24.730 --> 35:29.910
Certainly in 2009 it's usually
not true.

35:29.909 --> 35:32.849
The working class has much more
to lose than its chains.

35:32.851 --> 35:33.281
Right?

35:33.280 --> 35:37.320
It has probably its own nice
suburban house.

35:37.320 --> 35:39.750
They probably own two cars.

35:39.750 --> 35:42.660
They probably even have some
pension fund,

35:42.657 --> 35:44.357
on the stock exchange.

35:44.360 --> 35:48.410
Even ordinary workers check out
what the Dow Jones did

35:48.411 --> 35:51.701
yesterday, because it affects
the impact.

35:51.699 --> 35:54.809
But in his times it was
probably true.

35:54.809 --> 35:56.819
So this is how he gets to the
problem.

35:56.820 --> 36:01.280
It is the proletariat which
will be the universal class.

36:01.280 --> 36:03.930
And now you are already
familiar with The Paris

36:03.934 --> 36:06.594
Manuscript,
and I will not talk about this.

36:06.590 --> 36:10.550
That's why he wants to show
that the proletariat is the most

36:10.552 --> 36:11.362
alienated.

36:11.360 --> 36:14.230
And that makes--follows
logically.

36:14.230 --> 36:16.710
I think it damages,
to some extent,

36:16.713 --> 36:20.733
the theory of alienation,
because it narrows it too much

36:20.731 --> 36:21.391
down.

36:21.389 --> 36:24.959
The focus is too much down on
the working class,

36:24.956 --> 36:28.216
and in a way too much down on
working class,

36:28.219 --> 36:31.709
working on industrial
production in firms.

36:31.710 --> 36:36.110
But really, the message of
alienation is much broader.

36:36.110 --> 36:41.590
It tries to convey you some
general experience of modern

36:41.590 --> 36:45.180
life where we do not feel at
home.

36:45.179 --> 36:53.019
This is the big framing of the
problem in the early twentieth

36:53.021 --> 36:54.331
century.

36:54.329 --> 37:01.549
Homelessness, the homeless mind;
that we feel homeless in this

37:01.550 --> 37:04.540
world, searching for a home.

37:04.539 --> 37:06.759
That's the sense of alienation.

37:06.760 --> 37:08.560
That's what Marx tried to
capture here;

37:08.559 --> 37:11.279
in a way, unfortunately,
mis-specified.

37:11.280 --> 37:15.030
Too much emphasis on workers,
just because he's beginning to

37:15.030 --> 37:18.840
have this political project and
wants to find a revolutionary

37:18.844 --> 37:19.484
class.

37:19.480 --> 37:22.300
And, you know, he abandons it.

37:22.300 --> 37:24.120
"This is ridiculous,
you know.

37:24.119 --> 37:26.439
I have to put my show
together."

37:26.440 --> 37:31.880
And then he does;
beginning to develop what he

37:31.876 --> 37:35.106
calls historical materialism.

37:35.110 --> 37:37.200
So let's get into that one.

37:37.199 --> 37:46.559
And I have ten minutes to do
it, and that's all right.

37:46.559 --> 37:50.319
If necessary I will come back
to this.

37:50.320 --> 37:55.220
So Marx is developing what he
calls historical materialism.

37:55.219 --> 37:59.599
And I will suggest it is
making--it is done in two steps.

37:59.599 --> 38:05.039
First, he's emphasizing
dialectics in his criticism of

38:05.038 --> 38:06.268
Feuerbach.

38:06.268 --> 38:11.788
Feuerbach is a materialist all
right, but he's a mechanical

38:11.786 --> 38:16.636
materialist, and Marx wants to
bring dynamics in his

38:16.637 --> 38:18.157
materialism.

38:18.159 --> 38:23.379
And he will argue that this has
to--he historically specified

38:23.380 --> 38:24.860
material force.

38:24.860 --> 38:30.930
And this is what he will do in
The German Ideology.

38:30.929 --> 38:34.529
But what is dialectical?

38:34.530 --> 38:37.160
I don't want to waste time on
this.

38:37.159 --> 38:40.499
I want to get straight into
"The Theses on

38:40.496 --> 38:43.606
Feuerbach",
which is a very short text,

38:43.614 --> 38:44.924
but very deep.

38:44.920 --> 38:48.780
So here are the eleven Theses
of Feuerbach,

38:48.784 --> 38:52.194
on "Theses on
Feuerbach."

38:52.190 --> 38:58.450
He tries to carve out what his
new approach will be.

38:58.449 --> 39:03.059
And these are the eleven
pieces--very short.

39:03.059 --> 39:06.699
He said Feuerbach's materialism
was simply reflective.

39:06.699 --> 39:11.009
It actually meant subject and
object remained separated,

39:11.010 --> 39:15.070
and the subject reflected on
the object outside of the

39:15.067 --> 39:17.977
subject,
dominating the actions of the

39:17.978 --> 39:18.618
subject.

39:18.619 --> 39:22.059
But it is assumed that there
are objective conditions

39:22.059 --> 39:25.829
irrespective from the subject,
and you only reflect on the

39:25.829 --> 39:27.549
subjective conditions.

39:27.550 --> 39:30.420
And he said,
"Well in the new

39:30.416 --> 39:34.756
materialism truth is a practical
question."

39:34.760 --> 39:37.160
And I will talk about this in a
minute.

39:37.159 --> 39:40.359
It means you have to bring,
by human practice,

39:40.364 --> 39:42.504
subject and object together.

39:42.500 --> 39:45.740
You have to change the
objective conditions of your

39:45.744 --> 39:46.204
life.

39:46.199 --> 39:48.999
That's, you know,
not a passive agent,

39:49.003 --> 39:50.903
not over-determination.

39:50.900 --> 39:54.420
Marx is always read as a
determinist.

39:54.420 --> 39:54.910
No.

39:54.909 --> 39:57.689
As I will say,
Marx's philosophy is a

39:57.686 --> 40:02.476
philosophy of praxis;
praxis, practical activity is a

40:02.478 --> 40:04.618
key of Marx's theory.

40:04.619 --> 40:07.829
Man- man changes circumstances.

40:07.829 --> 40:09.389
And how?

40:09.389 --> 40:10.889
We will elaborate on this.

40:10.889 --> 40:12.819
But, you know,
we get--you know,

40:12.820 --> 40:16.060
we were born in certain
conditions, but we can change

40:16.057 --> 40:16.237
it.

40:16.244 --> 40:16.934
Right?

40:16.929 --> 40:24.569
Then, but in order to change
really the--we can't act alone.

40:24.570 --> 40:25.840
We have to cooperate.

40:25.840 --> 40:27.680
That's thesis four.

40:27.679 --> 40:31.699
He said that Hegel,
he thought it can be done in

40:31.697 --> 40:32.467
thinking.

40:32.467 --> 40:32.977
No.

40:32.980 --> 40:38.320
Feuerbach thought we can do it
in contemplation.

40:38.320 --> 40:42.420
Marx said, "No,
it can be only done by social

40:42.422 --> 40:43.932
practices."

40:43.929 --> 40:44.489
V, VI.

40:44.489 --> 40:49.159
Well old materialism was
looking at the individual.

40:49.159 --> 40:49.999
Right?

40:50.000 --> 40:53.140
Now I will look at the
collective, social

40:53.143 --> 40:56.603
relations--relational,
what I'm suggesting is

40:56.601 --> 40:57.781
relational.

40:57.780 --> 41:01.050
Well religion is also a social
product;

41:01.050 --> 41:02.540
this is a kind of by the way.

41:02.539 --> 41:06.479
Social life is practical,
follows from what we have said.

41:06.480 --> 41:13.200
Well contemplation implies
isolated individuals in society.

41:13.199 --> 41:17.109
Well we offer a view of
socialized humanity,

41:17.108 --> 41:22.018
that we all act together and
there's collective action,

41:22.018 --> 41:24.198
which brings change.

41:24.199 --> 41:28.479
And then the most controversial
and most important one.

41:28.480 --> 41:33.060
So far the philosophers have
interpreted the world.

41:33.059 --> 41:36.549
Now the point is to change it.

41:36.554 --> 41:37.374
Right?

41:37.369 --> 41:41.039
Good theory is not just
describes, it gives you a

41:41.043 --> 41:44.263
prescription what to do about
your life.

41:44.260 --> 41:47.120
That's the kind of theory what
we want.

41:47.119 --> 41:49.099
That's the "Theses on
Feuerbach."

41:49.099 --> 41:52.499
Just eleven sentences basically.

41:52.500 --> 41:54.240
Great sentences.

41:54.239 --> 41:58.159
Sort of all materialism is
reflective.

41:58.161 --> 41:59.011
Right?

41:59.010 --> 42:05.110
"The chief defect of
Feuerbach is that things",

42:05.110 --> 42:08.910
he said--the German term is
Gegenstand--

42:08.909 --> 42:14.779
"is reality,
sensuousness"--

42:14.780 --> 42:18.750
feeling through our senses,
right?--

42:18.750 --> 42:22.490
"is considered only in the
form of the object";

42:22.489 --> 42:26.759
that we sense the objects
outside of our contemplation.

42:26.760 --> 42:31.020
But sensuousness is not
perceived as human action,

42:31.016 --> 42:31.796
activity.

42:31.797 --> 42:32.577
Right?

42:32.579 --> 42:37.619
We simply feel the stuff but we
don't do anything about that.

42:37.619 --> 42:40.529
He said, "Sensuous
activity is what I

42:40.530 --> 42:41.810
emphasize."

42:41.809 --> 42:44.949
Well new materialism.

42:44.949 --> 42:48.299
This is, you know,
one of the most important

42:48.304 --> 42:50.494
sentences Marx wrote down.

42:50.489 --> 42:55.169
"Well the question whether
objective truths can be

42:55.170 --> 43:00.370
attributed to human thinking is
not a question of theory,

43:00.369 --> 43:02.969
but it is a practical question.

43:02.969 --> 43:09.879
Man must prove truth that this
worldliness of his thinking in

43:09.884 --> 43:11.614
practice."

43:11.612 --> 43:12.652
Right?

43:12.650 --> 43:17.460
It's not a speculative thing,
whether a question of truth.

43:17.460 --> 43:22.460
"The test of the pudding
is in the eating";

43:22.460 --> 43:24.370
he says elsewhere.

43:24.369 --> 43:31.899
The Italian Marxist
philosopher, Antonio Gramsci,

43:31.900 --> 43:35.110
who died in the prison of
Mussolini,

43:35.110 --> 43:40.880
called Marxism "the
philosophy of praxis."

43:40.880 --> 43:45.970
That's the essence of Marxism,
that the truth is not the

43:45.971 --> 43:51.061
subject reflecting on the
object, but the interaction of

43:51.061 --> 43:53.931
the subject between the object.

43:53.931 --> 43:54.951
Right?

43:54.949 --> 44:00.879
That the subject changes the
object in order to meet the need

44:00.878 --> 44:02.558
of the subject.

44:02.559 --> 44:05.919
That's the major point--the
separation of subject and

44:05.918 --> 44:06.498
object.

44:06.500 --> 44:10.970
The assumption that there are
objective conditions which are

44:10.974 --> 44:15.374
outside of our possible action,
is what later Marxists will

44:15.373 --> 44:16.893
call positivism.

44:16.889 --> 44:20.409
Marxism is not positivist.

44:20.409 --> 44:24.879
It believes that we can change
the world, rather than just to

44:24.875 --> 44:26.135
accept the world.

44:26.139 --> 44:26.809
Right?

44:26.809 --> 44:31.349
Well I don't have to talk--
don't have enough time to talk

44:31.346 --> 44:32.616
about Gramsci.

44:32.619 --> 44:35.129
Just one word:
in fact he called Marxism as a

44:35.130 --> 44:38.410
philosophy of praxis,
because he was writing his

44:38.405 --> 44:41.335
major work in the prison of
Mussolini,

44:41.340 --> 44:45.630
and was smuggling this book out
they called The Prison

44:45.625 --> 44:46.845
Notebooks.

44:46.849 --> 44:50.209
It was smuggled out before he
died.

44:50.210 --> 44:52.880
And he knew that,
you know, the prison guards

44:52.878 --> 44:53.788
will read it.

44:53.789 --> 44:56.779
So he did not want to write
down the term Marxism.

44:56.780 --> 45:01.170
When he meant Marxism,
he wrote it 'the philosophy of

45:01.173 --> 45:02.023
praxis'.

45:02.018 --> 45:08.218
And of course the stupid
Fascist guards did not know what

45:08.222 --> 45:12.102
on earth philosophy of praxis
is.

45:12.099 --> 45:15.969
So they did not know he was
writing about Marxism.

45:15.969 --> 45:19.369
But I think he got a very
important point.

45:19.369 --> 45:22.779
This is indeed an important
feature of Marxism.

45:22.780 --> 45:25.340
Well man changes circumstances.

45:25.340 --> 45:30.250
Well circumstances are changed
by man.

45:30.250 --> 45:32.350
And this is again an important
sentence.

45:32.349 --> 45:36.349
"The educator must himself
be educated."

45:36.349 --> 45:39.349
And those of you in my
discussion section yesterday,

45:39.353 --> 45:42.303
this is what you did:
you educated the educator.

45:42.300 --> 45:45.410
I realized I did not get,
you know, the theory of

45:45.405 --> 45:47.925
alienation through quite
effectively.

45:47.929 --> 45:51.009
So I went back and corrected my
course.

45:51.010 --> 45:51.660
Right?

45:51.659 --> 45:54.559
"The educators must be
educated."

45:54.556 --> 45:55.106
Right?

45:55.110 --> 45:57.510
I think it's a great sentence.

45:57.510 --> 46:01.110
Well, and one needs to discover
the role of the masses.

46:01.110 --> 46:04.870
Now that's very much Marx's
political project,

46:04.867 --> 46:05.867
coming in.

46:05.869 --> 46:07.999
But an important project. Right?

46:08.000 --> 46:09.680
That you cannot do by yourself.

46:09.679 --> 46:10.059
Right?

46:10.059 --> 46:13.469
If you want to achieve
something, you have to

46:13.469 --> 46:14.399
cooperate.

46:14.400 --> 46:15.320
You know?

46:15.320 --> 46:17.650
You need cooperation with
others.

46:17.648 --> 46:18.228
Right?

46:18.230 --> 46:21.620
Otherwise nothing can be
achieved.

46:21.619 --> 46:28.249
Well Hegel's starting point was
abstract thinking.

46:28.250 --> 46:33.540
Feuerbach, he's a materialist,
he thinks what is real is what

46:33.543 --> 46:36.283
we can grasp with our senses.

46:36.280 --> 46:37.880
Marx said, "No.

46:37.880 --> 46:41.320
This is sensuous practical
activity."

46:41.320 --> 46:44.260
It has to be sensuous,
but it has to be practical.

46:47.768 --> 46:49.558
the German philosopher.

46:49.559 --> 46:54.339
He said, "This is the real
Marx, who sees the essence of

46:54.342 --> 46:58.412
all sensuous human activity
being the core."

46:58.409 --> 47:02.409
Later Marx is a reductionist,
because he reduces sensuous

47:02.405 --> 47:04.685
activity to economic activity.

47:04.690 --> 47:08.460
Here Marx perceives all
sensuous activity,

47:08.463 --> 47:13.533
including human interaction
between us, including sexual

47:13.525 --> 47:17.565
interaction among us,
as a sensuous activity.

47:17.574 --> 47:18.684
Right?

47:18.679 --> 47:19.909
As a material reality.

47:19.909 --> 47:25.799
There is not so much conflict
between Marx and Freud as it

47:25.804 --> 47:26.844
appears.

47:26.840 --> 47:32.900
Now let me go further.

47:32.900 --> 47:33.090
VI.

47:33.085 --> 47:35.495
Old materialism looks at the
individual.

47:35.501 --> 47:36.061
Right?

47:36.059 --> 47:38.579
And this is Marx's big
obsession.

47:38.579 --> 47:42.249
The problem with modernity is
the isolated bourgeois

47:42.251 --> 47:45.401
individual,
and we have to overcome this

47:45.398 --> 47:49.078
isolated individual,
and we have to engage each

47:49.077 --> 47:51.227
other in human interaction.

47:51.230 --> 47:54.020
He is a communitarian, right?

47:54.019 --> 47:55.919
He is a communist, right?

47:55.920 --> 47:58.670
He does not want to have
isolated individuals,

47:58.670 --> 47:59.160
right?

47:59.159 --> 48:02.029
He wants human interaction.

48:02.030 --> 48:06.410
Well I'll skip this one:
religion is also a social

48:06.405 --> 48:07.295
product.

48:07.300 --> 48:12.980
Social life is practical;
this is again quite obvious,

48:12.980 --> 48:15.520
and I can probably skip this
one.

48:15.518 --> 48:18.348
And here again,
you know, the isolated

48:18.353 --> 48:20.693
individual;
that's the problem,

48:20.690 --> 48:24.930
that you do not see that really
what we can achieve is always

48:24.927 --> 48:28.807
interacting with each other,
building on each other.

48:28.809 --> 48:32.629
A single individual will not
change anything.

48:32.630 --> 48:37.480
Well, and therefore we stand
for socialized humanity.

48:37.480 --> 48:41.900
The standpoint of old
materialism is civil society,

48:41.900 --> 48:46.820
and the isolated bourgeois
individual in civil society,

48:46.820 --> 48:49.570
and we are talking about a
human society,

48:49.570 --> 48:53.620
where we are brothers and
sisters, where we have

48:53.621 --> 48:57.351
solidarity,
where we act in concert and in

48:57.351 --> 48:58.361
solidarity.

48:58.360 --> 49:05.180
And now comes the most
controversial pieces,

49:05.181 --> 49:09.941
what I hate and what I love.

49:09.940 --> 49:13.840
I love because again I think it
is wonderfully done,

49:13.838 --> 49:16.508
hate because it's desperately
wrong.

49:16.514 --> 49:17.284
Right?

49:17.280 --> 49:21.790
Philosophers have only
interpreted the world in various

49:21.793 --> 49:22.383
ways.

49:22.380 --> 49:24.090
The point is to change it.

49:24.090 --> 49:27.770
In some ways,
this follows from the earlier

49:27.766 --> 49:29.776
ideas, namely praxis.

49:29.780 --> 49:32.920
Truth is a practical question.

49:32.920 --> 49:37.530
Philosophy only makes sense if
it changes your life.

49:37.530 --> 49:40.530
If you just read the philosophy
text,

49:40.530 --> 49:45.190
or the theoretical text,
for Foundations of Modern

49:45.188 --> 49:49.498
Social Thought,
to make sure that we will fall

49:49.500 --> 49:52.220
asleep,
then the text did something

49:52.224 --> 49:54.534
wrong, and I did something
wrong.

49:54.530 --> 49:55.180
Right?

49:55.179 --> 50:01.409
If the texts are right,
and if my lectures are right,

50:01.409 --> 50:04.689
if you start reading "The
Theses on Feuerbach",

50:04.690 --> 50:08.090
you cannot fall asleep. Right?

50:08.090 --> 50:12.530
You may have to take a sleeping
pill to quiet down and to sleep

50:12.534 --> 50:17.184
because the idea disturbs you,
because you feel now you have

50:17.184 --> 50:20.814
to change the world rather than
to accept it.

50:20.809 --> 50:22.679
All right.

50:22.679 --> 50:23.059
Thank you.

50:23.059 --> 50:27.999