The Marxist theory of historical materialism claims the history of the world is fundamentally determined by the material conditions at any given time – in other words, the relationships which people have with each other to fulfil basic needs such as feeding, clothing and housing themselves and their families.See, in particular, Marx and Engels, The German Ideology Overall, Marx and Engels claimed to have identified five successive stages of the development of these material conditions in Western Europe.Marx makes no claim to have produced a master key to history. Historical materialism is not "an historico-philosophic theory of the marche generale imposed by fate upon every people, whatever the historic circumstances in which it finds itself" (Marx, Karl: Letter to editor of the Russian paper Otetchestvennye Zapiskym, 1877). His ideas, he explains, are based on a concrete study of the actual conditions that pertained in Europe. The theory divides the history of the world into the following periods:Marx, Early writings, Penguin, 1975, p. 426.Charles Taylor, “Critical Notice”, Canadian Journal of Philosophy 10 (1980), p. 330. Primitive communism; Slave society; Feudalism; Capitalism; and Socialism.
The Marxist theory of historical materialism claims the history of the world is fundamentally determined by the material conditions at any given time – in other words, the relationships which people have with each other to fulfil basic needs such as feeding, clothing and housing themselves and their families.See, in particular, Marx and Engels, The German Ideology Overall, Marx and Engels claimed to have identified five successive stages of the development of these material conditions in Western Europe.Marx makes no claim to have produced a master key to history Historical materialism is not "an historico-philosophic theory o.f the marche generale imposed by fate upon every people, whatever the historic circumstances in which it finds itself" (Marx, Karl: Letter to editor of the Russian paper Otetchestvennye Zapiskym, 1877). His ideas, he explains, are based on a concrete study of the actual conditions that pertained in Europe. The theory divides the history of the world into the following periods:Marx, Early writings, Penguin, 1975, p. 426.Charles Taylor, “Critical Notice”, Canadian Journal of Philosophy 10 (1980), p. 330. Primitive communism; Slave society; Feudalism; Capitalism; and Socialism.