Marx’s basic ontological assumptions about humans and the nature of society
Ontology relates to the questions of being and reality. Marx ontologically assumed that humans are altruistic, material creatures and are creative in nature. He explains that humans meet fundamental requirements by creating necessities such as food and shelter out of the environment. Producing these items and structures expand the human capabilities and can be seen as a mode of self-expression. Marx elaborates on these necessary tasks by relating it to the workforce and stating that work should not be regimented and monotonous, but original and personally significant. Work should be something that we want to do rather than have to do. As classes are formed and work …show more content…
Marx believed that capitalism would have an affect on a global level. He believed that capitalists would do everything in their power to find the cheapest labor, without taking the workers needs into consideration. “By focusing on the forces of production, Marx was able to predict historical trends…”(Reader, 2013:113). We can see this holding true, for companies are outsourcing and moving a lot of production out of the United States to countries with poorer economies and populations. The exploitation had been expanded on a larger scale. Marx believes that this capitalistic exploitation will gradually change to a socialistic society (with the rise of the proletariat) and “will eventually lead to a communist …show more content…
Men were usually the one’s selling their labor, but women were the one’s not getting paid to raise the men who are the future generation of men to be exploited. Marx also didn’t take into account that there aren’t always going to be simply two classes (the owners and the workers). As the state grew and contemporary societies became more complex, these two classes split. Take for example an owner of a “mom and pop” store. They own this business and hire workers, but still have to compete with larger companies, sometimes even exploiting them for cheap goods. Marx believes that this capitalistic society will eventually evolve into one of a communistic state, but there are too many factors in play to assume such drastic change. It would almost need an entire homogenization of the entire population to allow that to
Ontology relates to the questions of being and reality. Marx ontologically assumed that humans are altruistic, material creatures and are creative in nature. He explains that humans meet fundamental requirements by creating necessities such as food and shelter out of the environment. Producing these items and structures expand the human capabilities and can be seen as a mode of self-expression. Marx elaborates on these necessary tasks by relating it to the workforce and stating that work should not be regimented and monotonous, but original and personally significant. Work should be something that we want to do rather than have to do. As classes are formed and work …show more content…
Marx believed that capitalism would have an affect on a global level. He believed that capitalists would do everything in their power to find the cheapest labor, without taking the workers needs into consideration. “By focusing on the forces of production, Marx was able to predict historical trends…”(Reader, 2013:113). We can see this holding true, for companies are outsourcing and moving a lot of production out of the United States to countries with poorer economies and populations. The exploitation had been expanded on a larger scale. Marx believes that this capitalistic exploitation will gradually change to a socialistic society (with the rise of the proletariat) and “will eventually lead to a communist …show more content…
Men were usually the one’s selling their labor, but women were the one’s not getting paid to raise the men who are the future generation of men to be exploited. Marx also didn’t take into account that there aren’t always going to be simply two classes (the owners and the workers). As the state grew and contemporary societies became more complex, these two classes split. Take for example an owner of a “mom and pop” store. They own this business and hire workers, but still have to compete with larger companies, sometimes even exploiting them for cheap goods. Marx believes that this capitalistic society will eventually evolve into one of a communistic state, but there are too many factors in play to assume such drastic change. It would almost need an entire homogenization of the entire population to allow that to