Comparison of Marx and Nietzsche Views on History Essay Example

Over multiple of his works, Karl Marx explains how history is a class struggle because the bourgeoisie have controlled society at the expense of the proletariats’ labor and suffering. Instead of looking at history from the point of view of major political people, Marx looks at it from the point of view of the common man, the working class, and how the capital they produce can be used to their advantage. Nietzsche takes a slightly different approach and sees history as a way people grow spiritually and morally in order to be able to keep promises for others. Both Marx and Nietzsche incorporate history into their texts as a way to help people and use it to help support their philosophies, Marx uses a materialistic approach and views history from the point of view of the common man while Nietzsche sees history as a way people can grow and become more reliable for others. 

In the “Communist Manifesto”, Marx describes and proves why the proletariats should be the ruling class of society and not the bourgeoisie. Marx believes in historical materialism, he views history from the perspective of the working class and emphasizes that the capital made throughout history is positive because it can be used for the proletariats once they overthrow the bourgeoisie, even if they do not currently own the means of production. According to Marx “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Communist Manifesto 203). All of history has been the success of the bourgeoisie at the expense of the working classes’ struggles, the bourgeoisie owns the means of production while the proletariats do all of the work, but do not get a fair return from their labor. From Marx’s point of view, all of history has been built off the class struggle and will continue to build off class struggle until the working class overthrows the bourgeoisie which is what Marx refers to as the end of history and is the ultimate goal of Communism. The end of history is necessary because in order for Communism to prevail, the class struggle must end and the only way to do that is for proletariats to own the means of production and abolish the concept of private property so, the only way for Communism to succeed is with the end of history. 

 Nietzche sees history as a way people can grow and become dependable for others by gaining a sense of responsibility in order to do what they say they will do. People can improve this process by looking back at history to help them grow but should not dwell on it, which is why brains forget many hardships. The goal for humans according to Nietzsche is to be “the sovereign individual… in short, the man who has his own independent, protracted will and the right to make promises” (495). The ultimate moral goal for a human being is to be sovereign, this person does not need to rely on others but they can make and keep promises for those people. In order to become this ultimate sovereign individual, one has to be available for others to help them, and this takes time and reflection on their personal history and prehistory. Over a course of someone’s life, they can look at the gruesome parts of history and use that to better themselves and become their ideal version of themself and gain the sense of responsibility required to be dependable. Nietzsche uses history to explain how someone becomes the best moral version of themself and views history in more of a personal aspect to be used for reflection. 

 Although Marx and Nietzsche both use history to support their philosophies they incorporate it in different ways but similarities can still be found between the two. They both looked at history in a way that can be used to help people but in different ways, Marx saw it as a way to help the proletariats once they overthrow the bourgeoisie and Nietzsche viewed it more personally as a way people can look back at and grow from it. Nietzsche presents a similar argument to Marx when he explains that

 fundamentally one can cope with everything else, born as one is to a subterranean life of struggle; one emerges again and again into the light, one experiences again and again one’s golden hour of victory-- and then one stands forth as one was born, unbreakable, tensed, ready for new, even harder remoter things (480).

Both philosophers believe history has terrible parts to it, according to Nietzsche the terrible parts can be used to grow and become his idea of a sovereign individual. To Nietzsche, experiencing struggles in life can create opportunities to become the ideally moral person which can be related to Marx’s idea that terrible history can be used to help not just someone personally but society as a whole. Since Marx is a materialist “the nature of individuals thus depends on the material conditions determining their production” (German Ideology 164). When Marx describes how history affects people he views it as a materialist so people become their ideal self through what they physically produce and since he sees history as the class struggle of the proletariats, once they become the ruling class all the production they made throughout their history can be used to help them. Both Marx and Nietzsche view history as a way to better humans but from different perspectives, Marx from a materialist point of view and uses it for the improvement of society as a whole while Nietzsche’s perspective is from a moral standpoint which supports personal growth. 

Marx and Nietzsche both use history as a way to help explain their goals for their philosophies which have similar views of bettering one either personally, which is Nietzsche’s point of view, or society as a whole, Marx’s perspective. Marx is a materialist and he incorporates this into the way he sees history, which is as a class struggle and the production of capital. Nietzsche incorporates history into the “Genealogy of Morals” by describing that although there are unacceptable parts of history, they can be looked back at as a way to improve oneself morally in order to be able to become dependable for others. Although Marx takes a more materialist route and Nietzsche sees history in a moral way, they both use it to support their philosophies which both are used to improve people’s lives but on different scales.