Karl Marx on human nature

Abstract

Marx had very little sympathy with Utilitarianism. One of the reasons for his disapproval was that this "doctrine of utility" thrives on a form of intellectual bankruptcy. Utilitarians, faithful to the empiricist tradition and its distaste for abstract reasoning, first profess, implicity or explicitly their skepticism towards any knowledge regarding the nature of man and then go on to dictate what is wholesome and useful to man. This, Marx suggests, is insane. In Capital, while criticising Jeremy Bentham, that "genius in the way of bourgeois stupidity", Marx makes a very intriguing remark: "To know what is useful for a dog", he writes, "one must study dog-nature. This nature itself is not to be deduced from the principle of utility." Marx's point is clear. It is irrational to dogmatise on what is useful to anything without first understanding correctly what you are talking about. Insight into, and a critical analysis of, the "nature" of something should anticipate any attempt to decide what is useful or harmful to it. This applies in a special manner in the case of human nature.