Blog 7: Marx

Marx once wrote that "the real nature of man is the totality of social relations," and, for the most part, I agree with this. Regardless of passing idiosyncrasies, humans have inherent drive to be social creatures. Though we may have many tendencies, I think it is our sociality determines many of them. Our basic human needs, such as the need to feel loved, stem from our essentially social nature. That is to say, there are many things we do as humans, but a great number of these things are probably impelled by our initial social nature. If we didn't live in social societies, who is to say we would have any inclination to be selfish, or compassionate, or any other interpersonal state? I also agreed with Marx's notion that "what is true of people in one society or period may not be true in another place or time," (p172). I related this idea to the concept of social relativism, which explains that one must view other peoples of other cultures without imposing subjective criticism from the standpoint of ones own cultural beliefs. One must instead understand those peoples within the context of their respective culture. Certain characteristics that we have built for ourselves in American culture may not be equivalent to those of another culture.
Q: Marx believes that "the kind of life that is appropriate for us involves purposive productive activity," (p173). My question is, Do you do things that would not be defined as "purposive" or "productive"? How do you justify them?