Karl Marx saw Religion as the heart of a heartless world, a way of human-kind to reprieve in an oppressive and hostile world. He also thought that through understanding religion, he would be able to have a better grasp of human history.
Marx stated in his introduction to “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right”, a journal of Karl Marx's that was published in 1844). Religion was the "sigh of the oppressed creature in a hostile world, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions" and that an understanding of religion has to go hand in hand with an understanding of the social conditions that gave rise to it. It is the opium of the people.
Marx famously said that all criticism begins with the criticism of religion. However the critique of religion as a social phenomenon did not connote a dismissal of the issues behind it, such as a need to have guidance in people’s lives, but was more a criticism of the credibility. Therefore the description of religion as the heart of a heartless world thus becomes a critique not of religion, but in fact the state of the world as it exists.
By criticising religion, he was attempting to help it find a new heart, which was more effective. "The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it," he wrote in his famous 11th thesis on Feuerbach, the phrase carved on his gravestone in Highgate cemetery.
What this shows is that his consideration of religion, politics, economics and society as a whole was not merely a philosophical exercise, but an active attempt to change the world.
Bibliography;
“A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right” Karl Marx; written 1844
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/04/karl-marx-religion – By Peter Thompson, of the Guardian.com; written on Monday 4 April 2011
Marx stated in his introduction to “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right”, a journal of Karl Marx's that was published in 1844). Religion was the "sigh of the oppressed creature in a hostile world, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions" and that an understanding of religion has to go hand in hand with an understanding of the social conditions that gave rise to it. It is the opium of the people.
Marx famously said that all criticism begins with the criticism of religion. However the critique of religion as a social phenomenon did not connote a dismissal of the issues behind it, such as a need to have guidance in people’s lives, but was more a criticism of the credibility. Therefore the description of religion as the heart of a heartless world thus becomes a critique not of religion, but in fact the state of the world as it exists.
By criticising religion, he was attempting to help it find a new heart, which was more effective. "The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it," he wrote in his famous 11th thesis on Feuerbach, the phrase carved on his gravestone in Highgate cemetery.
What this shows is that his consideration of religion, politics, economics and society as a whole was not merely a philosophical exercise, but an active attempt to change the world.
Bibliography;
“A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right” Karl Marx; written 1844
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/04/karl-marx-religion – By Peter Thompson, of the Guardian.com; written on Monday 4 April 2011