Karl Marx's Intellectual Roots in John Locke

Abstract

Marx supposedly represents a radical break from liberal individualist property oriented thinking. In fact however, Marx integrates the best points of a variety of liberal individualists, notably Locke and Rousseau, but also to a lesser extent Aristotle and even Plato. Marx is an extension of, not a break from, mainstream thinkers in Western thought: all Marx's main ideas can be traced to one canonical Western scholar or another. Understanding analytical tools common to both Liberalism and Marxism contextualizes their divergences and allows one to better understand both the successes and failures of Marxism as a critique in practice of liberal state theory.

Keywords: Marx, Locke, Marxism, Liberalism, Social Contract, State of Nature, Legal theory, philosophy, political theory, jurisprudence, state theory, history, theory

JEL Classification: K10, K30