Marx and Human Nature

Abstract

Interest in Marx’s theory of human nature and need has grown at a time when, in the 1980s and 1990s, his political and intellectual influence waned. However, at the same time the exhaustion of the postwar philosophies of Social Democracy and the New Right suggests that it is all the more important to examine other traditions which offer different accounts of human nature. Seen from a broader and more philosophical perspective, Marx’s philosophy offers insights that contribute to a greater understanding of modern problems in social policy, such as the question of human need and the analysis of social and economic processes hindering or advancing need-fulfilment. One central question, therefore, is what precisely has this theory to offer social policy over others, such as Social Democracy’s, which have exercised a stronger influence in the twentieth century? This question is the main concern this chapter and the next.