Karl Marx, building off of the foundation of Hegel, developed a theory of history. It was a theory of economic determinism; it said in essence: economics determine all. Marx believed that whoever controlled the modes of production controlled society. That is not too controversial. It basically means that whoever controls wealth and resources is on top of a society. However, Marx went further declaring that everything in society is determined by the economic structure. Religion, art, the family structure, government: everything in a society is determined by the economic structure. Money is the mover of man and the shaper of history; it is the end of man.
Why do men want money? Often for power, sex, or happiness—there are obvious ties between Marx and Nietzsche, Freud, and Bentham. The critiques applied to their theories could apply to this theory in parts as well.
Marx is wrong for two reasons. First, man is not primarily motivated by money. And even if man was primarily motivated by money, this would be a modern peculiarity and not a universalizable condition.
Is it true that economic considerations truly have such a hold on mankind that they alone turn the pages of history? One argument in favor of this theory is the motivation behind war. Marxists view war solely as an economic act of self interest. Nations wage war to increase territory, protect colonies or resources, or to open up markets for trade. Just looking at our country’s history Marxists argue that we fought the Mexican-American War to take the South-West, the Spanish-American War to open up trading markets, in Vietnam we continued a colonial war, and the current war in Iraq is being fought for oil. They reduce the cause of every war to economic self interest (greed). They say our Revolutionary War was not fought for liberty, but for the interests of the middle class and the Civil War was not fought to end slavery, but to promote northern industrial interests to the detriment of southern agriculture by means of free trade.
But are economic considerations truly the only cause of war? If men did not agree to fight, there could be no war. But why do individual men choose to fight? It cannot be for simple economic factors. If a man wanted to protect his property a man should leave his nation peacefully with his property. Yet when men do this, we call them cowards. Think of an individual soldier, marching on mile after mile, injured and in the cold. What motivates him to keep going, to keep fighting? Whether it is for glory, honor, freedom, or out of duty, something keeps him going and that something is not reducible to dollars and cents. Sure money motivates some and it has been the cause of some wars, but not all actions are reducible to economic interests and not all wars have been motivated by greed.
Perhaps Marx was mistaken because he failed to consider people outside his culture and time. The pursuit of money may in fact be the dominant motivator of the modern, Western man. But it has not always been this way. Marx overreached and universalized a contemporary cultural trend. Like Bentham and Freud who reduced man’s motivation to happiness or sex, Marx is wrong because he reduces everything to one value. Man is complicated and is motivated by many things. Just because there is a current trend of most men begin motivated by money, sex, or happiness, it does not mean that this is how man has always operated.
What about living for glory or honor? One could argue that these bring with them money, so they support Marx, but I disagree. These are values that exist above and are distinct from the pursuit of money. Many men will endure pain and poverty for things they believe have greater value than pleasure or wealth. Think of Achilles exchanging a long life filled with comfort, ease, and wealth for a short, hard life of glory. Consider Christ dying out of his love for mankind. What do we make of Dostoevsky’s view of the redemptive nature of suffering, or of John Hus and Thomas More who died for their conviction of the truth, or of William Wallace and Nathan Hale who died for the liberty of their countrymen? They were motivated by considerations like honor, love, truth, and liberty. By focusing solely on economic matters Marx failed to consider a number of other values that motivate people. This is a big misunderstanding of human behavior on his part and it is ultimately why his theory fails. Money is not the end of man.
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