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Philosopher

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Karl Marx

1818–1883 · Historical materialism · Modern

Karl Marx criticised political economy and argued that ideas, including religion and philosophy, have to be read through the social relations that produce them. The early manuscripts and the 1844 introduction are not yet Capital, and the opium sentence belongs to that earlier page, where religion is both the sigh of the oppressed and the comfort that leaves the harsh world standing.

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The theses on Feuerbach, notes Engels published later, turn against a contemplative materialism. The eleventh thesis is the short one. It is not a ban on thinking. The Manifesto, written with Friedrich Engels and translated into the English everyone quotes by Samuel Moore, opens with class struggle and is a pamphlet, not the mature economics.

Engels's footnote about written history is part of citing that opening honestly. Capital is the long argument about value, labour, and crisis. This library does not pretend a sentence can stand in for it. He is not a prophet who failed, and he is not a saint of every later regime that used his name. The texts are specific. The specific texts are the ones to accept or refuse.

The theses and the opium passage were already secured. The Manifesto's opening is added. A fourth sentence was not invented to imitate a theory that lives in chapters.

Start here

The 1844 introduction, the whole opium paragraph, then the theses, then the first two pages of the Manifesto in Moore.

Those pages are short, his, and constantly cut in half. Capital is the destination, not the place to start if what you have is a mug.

Quotations

“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.”

Karl Marx · Historical materialism

societyknowledgechange
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

Karl Marx · Historical materialism

societymeaningmind
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”

Karl Marx · Historical materialism

societypowerchange
Paraphrase or translation
Meaning & application

Key ideas

  • Practice

    The theses want a materialism that includes sensuous human activity, not matter plus a sermon.

  • Ideology

    Religion and philosophy are read through the relations that make them feel obvious.

  • Class

    The Manifesto's opening lens: history as struggle, with Engels's later narrowing noted.

  • Capital

    Value and exploitation are the subject of the mature work. Mottos do not carry it.

Major works

  • A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, introduction (1844)

    The opium passage in full, sigh and comfort together.

  • Theses on Feuerbach (1845)

    Notes, published by Engels in 1888. Thesis 11 is the last.

  • Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)

    With Engels. Moore's 1888 English is the standard.

  • Capital, volume 1 (1867)

    The critique of political economy. Not a source of one-liners.

Influences

Influenced

Common misreadings

  • Thesis 11 does not say thinking is useless. It attacks contemplation that never becomes practice.
  • The opium line without the sigh is a sneer he did not publish. The sigh without the opium is a piety he did not publish either.
  • The Manifesto's first sentence is a hammer, and Engels later marked it. It is not a summary of Capital.

Famous lines Karl Marx never said

None of the lines this library files for Karl Marx is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

FAQ

What is the best book to start with?

The 1844 introduction, the whole opium paragraph, then the theses, then the first two pages of the Manifesto in Moore. Those pages are short, his, and constantly cut in half. Capital is the destination, not the place to start if what you have is a mug.

What is the most famous quote?

This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Karl Marx that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.” (Theses on Feuerbach, thesis 11, Paraphrase or translation).

What is the most misquoted line?

None of the lines this library files for Karl Marx is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

What is one key idea, in a sentence?

Practice: The theses want a materialism that includes sensuous human activity, not matter plus a sermon.