Analyze the ideas of Kant and Marx describing how they could be taken to characterize modernity and clearly state in what ways they do so. After defining how the philosophy you side with characterizes modernity along with the other, show how one develops a critical perspective against the idea of the other by evaluating and critiquing their ideas through outlining relative strengths and weaknesses. It is necessary to include insightful points of view regarding the opposition for a creative paper, which will go towards supporting what you claim to justify in the paper. Your claim can revolve around how one of these sides characterized modernity by affecting one specific event or thing in religion/state law/morality/economy of a time period that transcends to modernity (justifying how it does so).
Thesis should be clear on what you will present in the paper, concise, and coherent.
There should be a logically structured argument in support of the thesis, hence the structure of the thesis should be taken well into consideration for a unified paper.
The entire paper should be focused on the material in the readings listed only, and the use of outside sources and relevant ideas and philosophies not included in given bibliography even if cited or seeming necessary is not permitted.
All APA style citations must include exact paragraph and page numbers of referenced material.
All arguments should be supported by a citation.
Inspirations included in reading list:
Since you will be discussing Kant and Marx, Communism and Colonialism could give inspiration to your paper.
Think of social and political impacts of both Kant and Marxist ideas in the world that persisted in modernity.
Other ideas that could be outlined include:
Marx idea of correct consciousness/Liberation of man from Alienation vs. Kant ideas regarding the Universal.
Marx turning Hegel philosophy upside-down and how that relates to Kant.
Marx replacing idealism with materialism but retaining master/slave dialectic to explain the necessity for revolution and communism. How this dialectic relates to Kantian ideas.
Marxist principles derived from the Enlightenment ideas.
If you are to mention how both Kant and Marx considering people as ends in themselves, explain based on what ideas they talk about? And after describing these ideas analyze their differences and how impactful these differences are.
Listing Marx ideas on social progress and realization of human talent, then according to your analysis of these how do you think that could oppose Kant and what impact it has to justify your thesis.
Kant vs. Marx materialism and rejection of metaphysical interpretations of nature and history.
Possible consideration would be how Kant and Marxist ideas affect slavery. Reading Franz Fanon pdf and Merleau-Ponty for reference.
Marx views on fulfilling human potential (why it matters to his philosophy), and his opposition to the idea of self-alienation.
Kant views on religion and his epistemology, and how that relates to Marx.
Kant progress as social reform and how that relates to Marx.
Kant’s definition of freedom, and what impact that has differing from Marx.
Reason for Kant is using your mind to reach the universal. How does Marx oppose that and what results out of it?
Kant saying laziness and cowardice are obstacles to the enlightenment. Did Marx borrow from that and what changed of it?
Kant on the possibility of beliefs to be rational vs. Marxist rejection of religion.
Kant categorical imperatives, their impact on morality and state law, and how that could oppose Marx ideas.
Make a selection out of these ideas or what you find in the sources given, and be careful not to plagiarize or refer to any corresponding idea not listed within the scope of the readings.
Kant:
1. Kant, Immanuel, “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” in From Modernism to Postmodernism: An Anthology, Lawrence Cahoone (ed.), Cambridge, MA: Blackwell publishers, 1996.
2. Perry, Marvin, Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics and Society, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
Marx:
1. Tucker, Robert C., Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961.
2. Marx, Karl, and Engels, Friedrich, selections from Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and German Ideology in Marx and Engels, On Religion, NY: Schocken Books.
3. Fanon, Franz, Black Skin, White Masks, NY: Grove Press, 2008.
4. Perry, Marvin, Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics and Society, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
5. Marx, Karl, and Engels, Friedrich, selections from Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and German Ideology in Marx and Engels, On Religion, NY: Schocken Books.
6. Marx, Karl, and Engels, Friedrich, The Communist Manifesto, NY: Penguin Classics, 2002.
7. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1969). Humanism and terror; an essay on the Communist problem. Boston: Beacon Press.
Hegel:
1. Hegel, G.W.F., The Philosophy of History, J. Sibree (trans.), London: Dover Publications, 1956.
2. Hegel, G.W.F., The Phenomenology of Spirit, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976.
3. Kojève, Alexandre, Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’, NY: Cornell University Press, 1980.
Page range in pdfs:
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Humanism and Terror, Preface, pp. xiii-xv.
Reading: Merleau-Ponty Humanism and Terror.pdf
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “Bourgeois and Proletarians”
from Manifesto of the Communist Party, pp. 91-101.
Reading: Marx – Bourgeois and Proletarians
Tucker, “Marx and Feuerbach,” in Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx, pp. 95-105;
Reading: Robert Tucker Marx and Feuerbach.pdf
Perry, Chapter 24, pp. 587-593 (“Marxism”);
Reading: Perry Marxism.pdf
Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” pp. 41-42;
Marx and Friedrich Engels, “German Ideology,” pp. 73-81.
Reading: Marx Critique of Hegel`s Philosophy of Right.pdf
Reading: Marx German Ideology.pdf
Franz Fanon, “The Negro and Hegel” pp. 168-181 (five pages) from Black Skin, White Masks.
Reading: Franz Fanon, The Negro and Hegel.pdf
Alexandre Kojève, “Introduction to the Reading of Hegel,” pp. 98-120.
Reading: Kojève.pdf
Tucker, “History as God’s Self-Realization,” in Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx, pp. 45-56;
Reading: Tucker History as God`s Self-Realization.pdf
*** the upload server here was not working so here are the linked pdfs before the link expires:
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/8bd1a9472c6046e8d8400e702f88112b20170422205846/75d31f249305d70cfc8f6414c4cb92eb20170422205846/0c259f