Marx’s concept of natural history is critical, not naturalist
Evidence
Thismeans that’naturalhistory’inMarx’swork,‘[i]ncontrasttothenaturalist approach of vulgar Marxism, … is a critical concept’: ‘Human history, the historyof theprogressingmasteryof nature,continuestheunconscioushistory of nature, of devouring and being devoured. / Ironically, Marx was a Social Darwinist: what the Social Darwinists praised, and what they would like to go by, 134 Adorno 2007b, p. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1344
Categorization
- DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘natural history’ in Marx is a critical concept opposed to vulgar Marxism’s naturalism.
- XREF: Connects to the mature-Adorno argument that capitalist nature-like laws are socially necessary illusions — same ‘natural history’ thread. — connects to: Marx conceived history as natural history without endorsing Social Darwinist worldview — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1346; Marx’s inversion of Hegel is oppositional, not a simple turn from idealism to materialism; Marx’s concept of necessity derives from Ricardo’s determined market, not natural science — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1459 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Marx conceived history as natural history without endorsing Social Darwinist worldview
#expands(0.90) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1346 - Marx’s inversion of Hegel is oppositional, not a simple turn from idealism to materialism
#expands(0.75) - Marx’s concept of necessity derives from Ricardo’s determined market, not natural science
#corroborates(0.72) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1459 - Marx treated the bourgeois individual as a natural given, not a social product.
#contradicts(0.72) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1256