Philosophy, Marxism, Practice

As Marx attends to the distinction between Philosophy as interpreting the world, and Philosophy as changing the world, he overlooks another distinction that is implicit therein--that between changing the world, and a specifically Philosophical mode of changing the world. Now, the distinctively Philosophical dimension of Marxism is Dialectical Materialism. But, that system never functions as more than an interpretation of the world, even when applied to future events. What it is not applied to is the specifically Practical dimension of the doctrine, crystallized as the Ten Planks in the Manifesto. For those proposals are as randomly organized a mere list as are the Ten Commandments. In contrast, the paradigms of specifically Practical Philosophy are the principles articulated by Kant and Mill, each of which is applicable in each and every experience, and from the former of which is derived a system of duties. On the basis of those models, a distinctively Philosophical presentation of the Ten Planks would be methodically organized, beginning with the formulation of a fundamental Practical principle, followed by a derivation of any other proposition, e. g. a demonstration of 'Abolish private property' as following from 'Conduct oneself in accordance with the General Will', perhaps via an application of Dialectical Logic. As is, Marxism in its Practical dimension is not a Philosophical doctrine.