On Religion (AAR Classics in Religious Studies Series) - Softcover

Marx, Karl; Engels, Friedrich

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0891305998 ISBN 13: 9780891305996

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1964

Synopsis

This is the most representative collection of writings on religion by the two founding fathers of communism. It presents the full arsenal of ideas with which Marx and Engels hoped to explode the religious foundations of all previous societies. Yet also in these writings, as Reinhold Neibuhr's Introduction reveals, are clues to that remarkable development whereby an irreligion was transmuted into a new political religion, canonized precisely in the writings of Marx as sacred scripture. Included are excerpts from Das Kapital, occasional journalistic pieces, private letters, and more formal philosophical writings.

About this title

About the Author:

Described as one of the most influential figures in human history, Karl Marx was a German philosopher and economist who wrote extensively on the benefits of socialism and the flaws of free-market capitalism. His most notable works, Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto (the latter of which was co-authored by his collaborator Friedrich Engels), have since become two of history s most important political and economic works. Marxismthe term that has come to define the philosophical school of thought encompassing Marx s ideas about society, politics and economicswas the foundation for the socialist movements of the twentieth century, including Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, and Maoism. Despite the negative reputation associated with some of these movements and with Communism in general, Marx s view of a classless socialist society was a utopian one which did not include the possibility of dictatorship. Greatly influenced by the philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, Marx wrote in radical newspapers from his young adulthood, and can also be credited with founding the philosophy of dialectical materialism. Marx died in London in 1883 at the age of 64.

Language Notes:

Text: English, German (translation)

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1964
• ISBN 10: 0891305998
• ISBN 13: 9780891305996
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384