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Was Karl Marx a bad person?

Was Karl Marx a bad person?

  • Yes, he espoused evil beliefs intentionally

    Votes: 16 19.0%

  • No, he was just misguided, and possibly loony

    Votes: 27 32.1%

  • No, he was right

    Votes: 17 20.2%

  • IDK/Other

    Votes: 24 28.6%
  • Total voters
    84
MadLib

MadLib

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Do you think Karl Marx was a bad person for devising Marxist-style communism?

I'm not endorsing his viewpoints with this thread, I'm just seeing what everyone's opinion is.
 
No.
He was a philosopher, critiquing capitalism, history, and what comes next in history.
He was right on some points and wrong on other points.
But no he was not a "bad person".
So i voted "IDK/Other"
 
I don't know that I'd call him a "bad person." He was doing what he thought was right. But aside from being fantastically wrong about almost everything, his writings just drip with disdain for the world. He seems like he was a pretty unhappy person.
 
When professed Milton Freedman loving capitalists call Karl Marx "evil", I take pleasure in knowing they wouldn't know how to define "capitalism" if it wasn't for Marx's work.
 
Hatuey said:
When professed Milton Freedman loving capitalists call Karl Marx "evil", I take pleasure in knowing they wouldn't know how to define "capitalism" if it wasn't for Marx's work.
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Some of Marx's works is Marx praising capitalism actually.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Some of Marx's works is Marx praising capitalism actually.
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Das Kapital is by far the most important works in economics since the Code of Hammurabi. Adam Smith's weak sauce simply doesn't hold a candle to the theoretics laid out by Marx in terms of labor force, division of labor, anomie etc.
 
Hatuey said:
Das Kapital is by far the most important works in economics since the Code of Hammurabi. Adam Smith's weak sauce simply doesn't hold a candle to the theoretics laid out by Marx in terms of labor force, division of labor, anomie etc.
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Das Kapital is a great series (that is, if it doesnt put you to sleep within the first 50 pages :2razz: )
 
I don't think any of the answers really fit it. I'm not a Marxist, but the man was an extraordinary and brilliant thinker. He advanced the debates in so many fields it is almost impossible to count. Even areas like literary criticism were changed, completely, by his work. That doesn't mean that all those fields he affected became Marxist, but he progressed the debate, added a truly original perspective, and spawned all kinds of ideas. One of the most important thinkers in the last 500 years. So, was he "right"? I don't really even think that is the appropriate question. Political theory and philosophy, and to some extent even economics, don't work that way. There is no "right philosophy" and "wrong philosophy".

But, I'm going to vote for "right" because that is closer to the mark than "misguided". He figured out a lot of things we didn't really understand before him and his thinking was a massive contribution, even if his economic model didn't really pan out.
 
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I don't fit into any of the poll categories. Marx was a genius whose intellect and eloquence are undeniable. He diagnosed the evils of capitalistic society of his time, some obvious, some intricate. He made predictions about the future which mostly were false, but had a better record of predictions than most political scientists in history.

The fact is that while his political and economic views are widely disparaged in academia today, his ideas about history, culture, society, literature, religion, and the like are as relevant to day as the ideas of any other thinker. Sociology, history, and literary theory (among many others) would not exist today were it not for his prescient and relevant input. In terms of history, my profession and expertise, I view Marxist dialectical materialism not as a dogmatic truth--who could cling to this notion?--but as one among many other indispensable tools in understand historical processes. The underlying economic bases to political superstructures, and the course of the class conflict are essential to analyzing history in modern academia.
 
Marx made a few insightful critiques a capitalism combined with an unworkable utopia fantasy. Being wrong doesn't make you a bad person, especially since Marx didn't live to see the attempts to implement his ideology.
 
rathi said:
Marx made a few insightful critiques a capitalism combined with an unworkable utopia fantasy. Being wrong doesn't make you a bad person, especially since Marx didn't live to see the attempts to implement his ideology.
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And, to be fair, nobody ever actually implemented what he proscribed. For example, he saw communism as happening after capitalism had played out- well in the future still. He didn't think it would work before that.

I actually think that whatever system comes after capitalism will have some of the aspects he described. Not necessarily all that close to what he predicted, but probably closer to that than to anything anybody else predicted that long ago. Heck, back then we didn't even have anything that really resembled modern day capitalism yet and he was already trying to predict what would happen AFTER capitalism. It is an ambitious thing to attempt to say the least.
 
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rathi said:
Marx made a few insightful critiques a capitalism combined with an unworkable utopia fantasy. Being wrong doesn't make you a bad person, especially since Marx didn't live to see the attempts to implement his ideology.
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Not that I care, but you should probably read Das Kapital before you say Marx had a "a few" insightful thoughts of any kind. The man is for all intended purposes an intellectual juggernaut in the economics world. His work is so ridiculously influential that before him, "capitalist" simply meant somebody with money. Could you imagine?
 
Marx did'nt come up with communism .... communism as a concept has existed over the centuries ...

Marxism isn't an economic system, its an analysis of Capitalism, and to this date its analysis hasn't ever been refuted and is to this day one of the best.

Most of the people that hate Marx havn't read Marx.
 
Marx mixed clean and muddy water. He said lots of good thing and some things that are not so good and are pure ideology. That doesn't make him evil, just a sophist. But being perfect is pretty hard, almost impossible, anyways.
 
Marx mixed clean and muddy water. He said lots of good thing and some things that are not so good and are pure ideology. That doesn't make him evil, just a sophist. But being perfect is pretty hard, almost impossible, anyways.
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A sophist IS evil (since he's intentionally trying to mislead people).

But tell me what things were not so good and pure ideology? In Capital ...
 
RGacky3 said:
A sophist IS evil (since he's intentionally trying to mislead people).
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Not necessarily. A sophist is just ignorant about some things. But who doesn't?

RGacky3 said:
But tell me what things were not so good and pure ideology? In Capital ...
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The Communist manifesto for instance.
 
Not necessarily. A sophist is just ignorant about some things. But who doesn't?
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The definition of a sophist is someone who deliberately missleads people ... If your ignorant your not misleading deliberately.

The Communist manifesto for instance.
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Yeah, very early Marx, it was a pamphlet ....
 
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions".

I don't think he was necessarily intent on evil, but he did help create the greatest evil ever produced by mankind. Socialism.
 
MadLib said:
Do you think Karl Marx was a bad person for devising Marxist-style communism?

I'm not endorsing his viewpoints with this thread, I'm just seeing what everyone's opinion is.
Click to expand...

At our bi-weekly meetings of the Leon Trotsky Marching and Chowder Society we have a very talented member who can channel the spirit of Marx. They guy was really funny and can be the life of the party. He also gives very good advice on beard maintenance.
 
One must put Karl's words in historical context. No democracy, no human rights, no labor rights, well... no rights. In that context, yeah, rise up and take control of your authority. But in the modern world? With representative government far beyond anything Karl imagined? No. It's just outdated economic philosophy.

Why would he be a bad person? He's just an ancient person who didn't have a clue what future governments would look like. Monarchy turned into capitalism and that to free market economics with rights and laws.

His developed country -> socialism -> communism is just a simple utopian conjunction.
 
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Matt Foley said:
sophists are used car salesmen, snake in the grass, with a talent for lying.
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Well, may be so, but in Ancient Greece sophist were just teachers for pay, much like those yoga teachers or motivating speakers today. I think very few of them were hypocrites and deceivers, most being just sincere ignorants.
Read Protagoras by Plato. :)
 
MadLib said:
Do you think Karl Marx was a bad person for devising Marxist-style communism?

I'm not endorsing his viewpoints with this thread, I'm just seeing what everyone's opinion is.
Click to expand...

What's the criteria for good and bad?
 
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