We HAVE to TALK about racism and police brutality

[KingCharlemagne]

84. Your questions are valid, but I don't want to derail Mary's thread unduly with

discussion of arcane philosophical topics.

Racists believe that race is the 'essential' characteristic, meaning that the race of someone tells us everything important about that person's identity. Marxists, otoh, believe that one's relationship to the means of production is the essential characteristic, meaning that whether one is an owner or a worker gets to the essence of who that person is in ways that race never has and never will.

As to what makes a characteristic 'essential' or 'non-essential,' Marxism considers itself a materialist branch of philosophy, such that it tries to root its theory and practice in the material world and not in the world of idealism (represented in the figure of Hegel back when Marx and Engels were composing their seminal works). So Marxists always seek to root their theory and practice in the conditions of the material world. whereas someone coming from an idealist point of view (philosophically speaking) would tend to view man as having some internal idealized 'essence' divorced entirely from his relationship with the material world. Appeals to and arguments based on 'human nature' tend to derive from an idealist philosophy and not a materialist one.

One can indeed objectively answer the question of whether one is a worker or an owner. To that extent, the characteristic is most definitely measurable. Marxism also prides itself on its scrupulous adherence to the Scientific Method and to Science as a means for 'knowing' reality. So Marxism would absolutely share your and my preference for objective measurements.

Hope that helps.