Marx and Human Nature: Refutation of a Legend

Summary

Geras discussed Marx's Sixth Thesis on Feuerbach, which states of the philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach: "Feuerbach resolves the essence of religion into the essence of man. But the essence of man is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble of the social relations. Feuerbach, who does not enter upon a criticism of this real essence, is hence obliged: 1. To abstract from the historical process and to define the religious sentiment by itself, and to presuppose an abstract - isolated - human individual. 2. Essence, therefore, can be regarded only as 'species', as an inner, mute, general character which unites the many individuals in a natural way."

Based on his reading of the Sixth Thesis, Geras argued that Marx had a definite conception of human nature and did not hold the social constructionist view that human being can be reduced to its relation with others. He maintained that the concept of human nature is compatible with historical materialism, and criticized Louis Althusser and his followers for popularizing a belief to the contrary. Geras was also critical of the Hungarian Marxist philosopher István Mészáros, finding his work Marx's Theory of Alienation (1970) to be an example of the way in which Marxists have illogically denied that human nature exists even while engaging in analysis of Marx that depends on the concept of a human nature.

Philosophers Geras took a more favorable view of include the Croatian Gajo Petrović, author of Marx in the Mid-Twentieth Century (1965), and the Canadian Gerald Cohen, author of Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence (1978). Geras called Cohen's book the leading philosophical discussion of the way in which the character of human beings in any setting depends upon the nature of the prevailing social relations.

Scholarly reception

Geras' conclusions in Marx and Human Nature have been endorsed by scholars such as political scientist David McLellan, psychoanalyst Joel Kovel, and literary critic Terry Eagleton. McLellan reviewed Marx and Human Nature in Political Studies, writing that Geras' interpretation of Marx's Sixth Thesis on Feuerbach was convincing, and that his book showed "exemplary analytical rigour" and was a "most welcome and timely addition to the study of Marx." Political theorist Terrell Carver, writing in an appendix to the 1995 version of Karl Marx: His Life and Environment, called Marx and Human Nature a classic study of the question of whether Marx believed in human nature.

Joseph Fracchia discussed and criticized Geras' views in Historical Materialism, arguing that, like other authors who have attempted to offer a historical-materialist account of human nature, Geras' was unsuccessful because he was "not materialistic enough" and failed to base his depiction of human nature in "human corporeal organisation".