Friday, October 4, 2013

Human Identity

If I understand this correctly, Marx believes that in an ideal society, there is no class nor private property, ergo we are all equal, and own nothing.  If this understanding is accurate, the only conclusion I could arrive at is that in Marx's ideal society, for one to participate in it, one must throw away his/her identity as an unique individual.  What I know from my own personal experience in the society I've been living in for two decades, is that it is common for one to strive to make oneself known in society.  What I mean is that most want to be themselves and act in such a way that makes them who they are.  With Marx's society, it seems that he thinks it best that everyone basically become the same sort of citizen, acting and responding in the same way to every situation.  Wouldn't this most likely be the same as taking away one's free will, then again wouldn't the existence of free will hinder the success of this form of society?  If so then this fact would explain why this society is completely inviable, although still slightly practical.  As Marx assumes, there is no human desires present in his society, ergo no one desires free will.  With such factors in place, perhaps then one could "control" and "maintain" society so that everyone is one in the same, and so that everything belongs to everyone, yet at the same time belongs to everyone else.  However, the fact that something were to belong to someone, yet not belong to someone, would seem at a first glance as completely counter productive.  And again wouldn't Marx be asking society to submit its free will.  Such an assumption would seem accurate if one is looking at society as a whole given that said "something" is a limited resource.  However, it is possible for such a society to exist in a smaller community, such as a household, at least to an extent.  It would be true that everyone in the household would see everything belonging to one another, however, that's as successful as Marx would get in implementing his ideals.  To have a no class at all would bring about ruin to the household since no one knows what should be seen as right or wrong.  In fact, it would seem to me that one of the flaws in Marx's philosophy would be that in order for everyone to act in such a way that they only benefit the society, they must first learn what is right.  So there must be an individual of "higher class" to set certain rights, so society knows that acting in accordance to these "rights" is the only way to benefit society.  Claiming such would prove the inviablility of Marx's class-less system, and because there is an individual of higher order, then he/she must have ownership of something that puts him in such a position.  This means that within this society were there is supposed to be no private property, there is at least one individual with private property.  So because of this single flaw, Marx's ideal society collapses upon itself, because there is an individual who has claimed his identity, and become an unique individual who controls a society of individuals who lack an identity.

2 comments:

  1. I don't think that collective ownership implies that we must sacrifice our identity. If all of your possessions were lost or destroyed overnight, would you say that you have ceased to exist? Marx is confronting our use of material goods to define ourselves, and rather than encouraging homogeneity throughout society, I feel like he both acknowledges and encourages differences. The statement, "From each according to his ability, to each, according to his need," recognizes the fact that no one will be able to contribute exactly the same thing as anyone else, nor will two peoples' needs ever be exactly the same. The only prerogative given by Marx is that everyone work as best they can to contribute to society.
    I would argue against the idea that moral value is obtained through ownership. Since not all laws are concerned with property rights, it would seem that we can create a moral code without individual property. I also think it would be preferable to derive a moral code without social class, as belonging to a specific socio-economic class would more than likely influence your idea of morality.

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  2. Although freedom would be highly restricted under ideal Marx's system, I don't think it would be entirely gone because people would choice to participate in society. In order to compromise much of their free will, something would have to compensate for it, which would be the guaranteed security of having your needs and everyone else's needs met. The success of this system would depend of how well the citizens believed in it so Marx would most likely have to follow Plato's lead with the "Noble Lie". This would allow the people to believe that they are doing what is right for themselves in society without noticing the restricted free will.

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