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Marx’s Philosophy on Natural History

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Natural Born Monads
This chapter is in the book Natural Born Monads

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to clarify how Marx criticized the idealist concept of nature. By analyzing Marx’s texts, I will focus on their relation to Hegel’s teleology, in which nature is taken as an intermediate stage of process wherein the idea as a logical category gradually begins to actualize itself in the objective world. By distancing himself from Hegelian idealism, Marx reached his own concept of natural history wherein nature is always considered to remain non-identical to human beings. As I will argue, Marx’s critical concept of nature is motivated by his critique of the notion that humans are somehow dominant over nature. Marx’s claim that nature cannot be completely dominated by human individuals led him to a reflection on the existence of human individuals and how they cannot be properly understood outside of the dialectical relationship that they entertain with nature. As I will claim in the conclusion, Marx’s understanding of the human individual is made up of a dialectical relationship between individual, nature, and society. Furthermore, I will also claim that this dialectical relationship can prevent us from accepting a reductive and organicist understanding of human beings.

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to clarify how Marx criticized the idealist concept of nature. By analyzing Marx’s texts, I will focus on their relation to Hegel’s teleology, in which nature is taken as an intermediate stage of process wherein the idea as a logical category gradually begins to actualize itself in the objective world. By distancing himself from Hegelian idealism, Marx reached his own concept of natural history wherein nature is always considered to remain non-identical to human beings. As I will argue, Marx’s critical concept of nature is motivated by his critique of the notion that humans are somehow dominant over nature. Marx’s claim that nature cannot be completely dominated by human individuals led him to a reflection on the existence of human individuals and how they cannot be properly understood outside of the dialectical relationship that they entertain with nature. As I will claim in the conclusion, Marx’s understanding of the human individual is made up of a dialectical relationship between individual, nature, and society. Furthermore, I will also claim that this dialectical relationship can prevent us from accepting a reductive and organicist understanding of human beings.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of Contents v
  3. Natural Born Monads 1
  4. Between Laws and Norms. Genesis of the Concept of Organism in Leibniz and in the Early Modern Western Philosophy 11
  5. The Ontology of Organismic Agency: A Kantian Approach 33
  6. Teleology, Backward Causation and Contradiction. Hegel’s Dialectical Account of Organic Nature 65
  7. Being Rational: Hegel on the Human Way of Being 89
  8. Hegel and the Question “What Characterizes Human Beings qua Animal Organisms of a Specific Sort?” 111
  9. Marx’s Philosophy on Natural History 137
  10. From Monads to Monera 153
  11. Idealism and Darwin – Rejection, Accommodation, Appropriation: James Hutchison Stirling and David George Ritchie 177
  12. Biology and the Philosophy of History: Nishida Kitarō and the Philosophy of “Necessity that Includes Freedom” 199
  13. Tanabe Hajime and the Concept of Species: Approaching Nature as a Missing Shade in the Logic of Species 213
  14. Teleology, Life, and Cognition: Reconsidering Jonas’ Legacy for a Theory of the Organism 243
  15. Dialectical Thinking and Science: The Case of Richard Lewontin, Dialectical Biologist 265
  16. Can Normativity be the Force of Nature that Solves the Problem of Partes Extra Partes? Episode IV – A New Hope – Natural Detachment and the Case of the Hybrid Hominin 293
  17. Towards a Constructivist Approach to Human Nature 315
  18. Index of names 333
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110604665-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of Contents v
  3. Natural Born Monads 1
  4. Between Laws and Norms. Genesis of the Concept of Organism in Leibniz and in the Early Modern Western Philosophy 11
  5. The Ontology of Organismic Agency: A Kantian Approach 33
  6. Teleology, Backward Causation and Contradiction. Hegel’s Dialectical Account of Organic Nature 65
  7. Being Rational: Hegel on the Human Way of Being 89
  8. Hegel and the Question “What Characterizes Human Beings qua Animal Organisms of a Specific Sort?” 111
  9. Marx’s Philosophy on Natural History 137
  10. From Monads to Monera 153
  11. Idealism and Darwin – Rejection, Accommodation, Appropriation: James Hutchison Stirling and David George Ritchie 177
  12. Biology and the Philosophy of History: Nishida Kitarō and the Philosophy of “Necessity that Includes Freedom” 199
  13. Tanabe Hajime and the Concept of Species: Approaching Nature as a Missing Shade in the Logic of Species 213
  14. Teleology, Life, and Cognition: Reconsidering Jonas’ Legacy for a Theory of the Organism 243
  15. Dialectical Thinking and Science: The Case of Richard Lewontin, Dialectical Biologist 265
  16. Can Normativity be the Force of Nature that Solves the Problem of Partes Extra Partes? Episode IV – A New Hope – Natural Detachment and the Case of the Hybrid Hominin 293
  17. Towards a Constructivist Approach to Human Nature 315
  18. Index of names 333
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