ABSTRACT
Hegel’s vision suggested that Spirit constructs a way of life and an identity for humankind, in keeping with the objectives of Spirit. Marx, however, turns that argument around and argues that Spirit is a function of the projections and thoughts of human beings. Moreover, the thoughts and projections of human beings that create a concept of Spirit, and thus moral order, reflect the real course of events that occurs in history. This means that history is said to unfold according to a certain logic and pattern. The main feature of this pattern is that human beings initially find themselves in circumstances that
deny their authentic possibilities, and this fact is overcome later when capitalism is replaced with socialism. Marx, then, in arguing that human self-understanding is a function of the evolving pattern of historical events, seeks to turn Hegel “right side up.” Marx does so by demonstrating that Spirit is not an independent force existing outside the lives of people and having the power to determine how we come to see and to understand ourselves.
