Philosophy of Karl Marx

Catalog description

This course focuses on the thought and philosophical legacy of the influential but easily misunderstood nineteenth-century German philosopher, economist, and political theorist Karl Marx. Essential themes and ideas include: alienation, species-being, dialectic, historical materialism, class struggle, exploitation, ideology critique, and capitalism and its alternatives. Students will read and critically engage Marx's own writings, but attention may also be paid to philosophers working in the Marxist tradition (e.g., analytic Marxism and Frankfurt School critical theory) as well as to critics of Marx and Marxism.