Три аспекта от възгледите на Карл Маркс
Three Aspects of Karl Marx’s Views

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the following issues: 1) What is the adequate approach to the theoretical legacy of Karl Marx? 2) From a present-day viewpoint, what is acceptable and not acceptable in Marxist teaching on ideology and the state? 3) What should be our attitude today towards the tendency of expanding the scope of the profit maximization principle, which, according to Marx, represents the essence of capitalism? The following ideas are upheld in this connection: 1) Marxist teaching may be regarded in two ways: as a universal explanatory theory about society or as a treasury of valuable ideas. As for the first view, Marxist theory is an admirable intellectual construction, but overall, it cannot resist criticism. It should either be acknowledged as actually untrue or as being „immune“ against criticism, i.e., as pseudoscientific. As regards the second approach, the Marxist ideas which have survived the test of time may be outlined and developed further. 2) The Marxist view of the class character of the state is essentially correct although, similarly to anarchism, it wrongly underestimates the overall cultural role of the state. 3) The Marxist teaching about ideology is based on the psychological assumption that there is a correlation between people’s worldview and their selfish interests. Though this view has been criticized, it seems plausible. At the same time, Karl Marx’s view that there are two kinds of ideology – a true one and a misleading one – is wrong. Every ideology is misleading insofar as it suggests that the normative statements it contains can be true or untrue. 4) The mass inclusion today of non-production activities within the sphere of economic life provides fresh arguments in support of Marxist criticism of capitalism. Karl Marx’s thesis that the profit maximization principle has negative social consequences is partially corroborated by the commercialization of art. Subordinating the sphere of art to this principle turns art into an entertainment business and deprives it of aesthetical values.

• Details
• Contents