Kant and Marx: Philosophical Legacies

Immanuel Kant: Synthesis and Influence

Kant is undoubtedly the greatest eighteenth-century German philosopher and one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the Enlightenment. From a strictly philosophical point of view, this included the daunting task of criticism that Kant undertook, subjecting theoretical reason and practical reason to rigorous scrutiny. As a result, he brought a dazzling synthesis of rationalism and empiricism concerning theoretical reason, and a new ethical theory, formalism, which broke with all previous approaches. As if this were not enough, Kant connects both forms of reason in the Critique of Judgment, which studies the nature and purpose of aesthetic judgments. Such contributions have exerted a considerable influence on all subsequent philosophical activity, and continue to do so to this day.

Leaving aside the philosophical perspective, we must highlight the role played by Kant in his time. His reflections on practical aspects such as history, politics, or religion were widely discussed, and Kant was one of the most influential figures in the European intellectual landscape of the eighteenth century. Specifically, focusing on Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose, the Kantian philosophy of history defends the role of conflict within history (relations with Hegel and Marx are evident at this level), and also poses what is the purpose of human history. Therefore, Kant is undoubtedly one of the most influential authors of modernity, and has become an essential reference point in diverse areas such as ethics, epistemology, aesthetics, and philosophy of history.

Karl Marx: Dialectic and Transformation

Often considered the founder of scientific socialism, Karl Marx is one of the most controversial thinkers in history. His thinking has been reinterpreted by many of his followers, making it often difficult to separate what is in Marx's own texts from later reinterpretations or even the thought of Engels, Marx's closest collaborator. To contextualize Marx, it is helpful to begin by examining his intellectual origins: his thought is an inversion of the Hegelian system, and an attempt to turn philosophy into a practical tool for the transformation of reality. The Hegelian dialectic of spirit becomes the dialectic of matter in Marx, leading to historical materialism, which concerns the understanding of human affairs. He also takes up the critique of religion by Feuerbach (despite his distance from Feuerbach on other matters).

It must also be taken into account that Marx was arguably more an economist than a philosopher, and to understand his ideas, one needs to be able to follow the economic arguments that appear in works such as Das Kapital. Besides this theoretical characterization, we cannot ignore Marx's direct participation in the labor movement of the nineteenth century. This has meant that Marx is one of the philosophers from whom many authors and philosophical currents of the twentieth century draw inspiration.