Karl Marx - Historical Materialism

Historians in Marx's time thought that any human civilization could be explain by the products of the Spirit/the mind; this means arts, religion, politics, philosophy, humanities, etc. Marx said that, since men are work, the only thing that explains any civilization is the material or living conditions of working men. Society consists of the base/infrastructure (this is, the work) and an ideological superstructure (the intellectual stuff).

The base consists of two parts: productive forces and relations of production. Productive forces mean workers/proletariat, technologies, sciences, tools; everything used for working. Relations appear when you have somebody owning the tools or technologies. These are the relationships built around production (for instance, owner and worker). Marx stated that productive forces evolve faster than the relations.

An example of this would be the music industry nowadays, and their position on downloading songs for free. We have the technology to be able to produce our own songs and distribute them online for almost no price, and yet record companies want to charge you for downloading, instead of thinking of other ways of making income (like concerts, merchandizing, I don't know). The thing is, relations of production evolve slowly because, if they change, it means people with power will lose it.

When the productive forces have evolved so much the relations become a burden, something called "revolution" occurs, which makes the relations change and History moves forward. This is what Marx called Historical Materialism, since it depends on the material conditions of the workers.

Karl Marx - The Concept of Alienation

Marx stated that men are work. Work refers to the fact that we can produce our own means of subsistence. Men are social by nature since it's the only way we work.

What happens when men are separated from the product of their work? This was the case in Marx's time, the time when the industrial revolution had just happened. The living conditions of the working class were very bad, and the rich men exploited them. Think of Oliver Twist or Les Misérables. Men were paid the minimum amount of money so that they could continue living and keep on working.

The problem with capitalism is that it produces more wealth but for less people. The proletariat (this means, the person who owns nothing but his labor force) receives nothing from his work, despite the fact that men are work! Complement this with an involuntary division of labor and you have a very miserable life. This is what Marx called alienation.

It should be noted, to clear up some controversy, that Marx never actually proposed a solution. He died before he could explain "communism". What happened during the 20th century is far from Marx's view, since he clearly stated that there should be no State/no one superior. He just wanted us to work happily. More about Marx on my next post!

Rational vs Irrational

Many have divided men into Body and Soul/Spirit, but I don't think that's accurate enough. Men can be divided into two parts: Rational and Irrational.

Our rational side comprises not only our body but our logical/rational thinking. Rational is anything that can be explained rationally (never mind the redundancy). Overall, it's our rational side which helps us to survive. To be efficient, you must be rational.

However, we have an irrational side, related to feelings. This is what makes us truly humans, and not just robots with a particular purpose. It's thanks to irrationality that we have creativity/innovation; however, that's the only good thing about it. It's due to our irrational side that we have fears, insecurities, depression, etc.

The problem is that our irrational side cannot be explained. It is part of human nature not knowing what we really are (and it's also part of human nature to want to find an answer). You can't convince your irrational side with arguments and force it to not feel sad; apparently, it just happens.

An introduction to Efficiency

Imagine a man who has just been hired to work at an office. The first day of work he comes in motivated, ready to put in effort. However, once he gets there, he finds his co-workers are lazy, and they just do the minimum work possible; they even make fun of him for making an effort. He decides to ignore him and continue with his believes (I won't stop just because they want to, right?)

At the end of the month, the checks come in. This guy was payed the same amount as his lazy co-workers. As the months go by he just gives up and stops caring. Despite the fact that if all workers made an effort, the company would sell more, have higher incomes, and everyone's salary would increase. In theory we should all be as efficient as possible.

This whole "efficiency" thing is a sort of theory I've been developing. It's nothing new or revolutionary; in fact, it is based on and influenced by many different points of view. I just like to express it in my own words.

Why aren't humans efficient all the time and what can we do about it? Well, this will we discussed in my following posts.

EDIT: Bear in mind the work environment is just a metaphor (though it can indeed be applied for work too). After receiving some comments I guess I didn't make it clear. The office is a metaphor for life.

Cream

They started in 1966, and while their career was short (3 years), their influence was huge. Eric Clapton (guitar), Ginger Baker (drums) and Jack Bruce (bass/vocals) were already famous when they decided to join together. They were considered the "cream of the crop" in the British scene, thus the name. Their style, while primary blues-influenced, had some touches of psychedelia, plus great musicianship.

While in their first album they hadn't truly reached their potential, their second album, Disraeli Gears, is one of the best rock albums ever. Sunshine of Your Love, which everyone knows even without being aware of it, is in here. However, they were constantly competing with each other, and they broke up the following year.

My Top 5:

5. White Room
4. Outside Woman Blues
3. I Feel Free
2. Strange Brew
1. Bagde