Eight myths about socialism—and their answers

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4. I know what you're saying.

Last edited Sun Dec 11, 2011, 11:12 PM - Edit history (1)

The argument stems from the difference between "idealism" and "materialism" in Marxism. (And by idealism, it is meant anything outside of objective reality--imaginary, thought-based; not idealism like wanting good things to happen) The human nature idealist argument is that humans have some quality that existed outside of our time before even appearing in nature--that there is some a priori quality that we take on simply because it was bestowed on us from outside and it is unchanging. Usually this is where we get into spiritual areas, because if this "nature" didn't derive from our experiences and existence and is eternal, it must be otherworldy. And it will never change.

Materialism says that humans are the result of a historical process in nature. We have behaviors that are common to our experience, but how and why did they arise? Was there a spirit that breathed qualities into us? Or did we evolve depending on the conditions that we faced, our social nature, and the fact that we depend on each other for survival, which are all unique qualities of our species. Are we "naturally greedy", or is this a basic primitive survival behavior that gets aggravated in a fight for resources? and becomes totally malignant under capitalism. Could it be totally stemmed in a change of economic conditions? The idealist wouldn't think so, there is the thought that man will "revert" to some unchanging nature handed down on high no matter what the conditions.