Marx, Durkheim and Society

What reconciles science and morality is the science of morality, for at the same time as it teaches us toi respect moral reality it affords us the means of improving it. . . . Here as elsewhere, science presupposes the entire freedom of the mind. we must rid ourselves of those ways of perceiving and judging that long habit has implanted in us (Durkheim Division xxviii-xxix).

Durkheim does not question the existence of moral realuity, but he does begin with a questioning of everything which has been assumed to describe and analyze it previously.

Marx similarly advocates a starting from the beginning, a tearing down of what has come before:

And the socialist principle itself represents, on the whole, onky one side, affecvting the reality of the true human essence. we have to concern ourselves just as much with the other side, the theoretical existence of man, in other words to make religion, science, etc., the objects of ouyr criticism (Marx 13).

The latter excerpt is from a piece called "For a Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing."

Both Marx and Durkheim follow the basic processes of scientific inquiry by questioning the very foundation of their subject

. . .
ch is handed down to each generation from its predecessor, a mass of productive forces, capital funds and conditions. . . . (Marx 164). Both Marx and Durkheim saw societry as an organic entity, an entity which coresponded in important ways to a biological entity, or at least a material entity which obeyed certain laws of growth and development and change. Durkheim saw in society a need for non-revolutionary change, whereas Marx saw a need for revolutionary change, but both saw great forces at work which corresponded to the scientific forces at work in a material or biological entity. Both men effectiveky argued that their studies were based on science because, essentially, the subjects they studies adhered to scientific laws and principles. 4. Marx believes that what is wrong with modern industrial society is the division between the classes which can only be solved by revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat and then the perfect communist or socialist state without class divisions. Durkheim, on the other hand, believes that the freedom of the individual is threatened by laws and regulations which are necessary for social solidarity but which cost the individual his autonomy. Marx argues that
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Approximate Word count = 1498
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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