Karl Marx and the Philosophy of History
As prophet and economist, Marx is a familiar figure. But what, asks Lindley Fraser, was his real contribution to the writing of history?
Marx is important to the historian in three different aspects – as an historian himself, as a philosopher of history, and as an historical figure. Here I propose to confine myself largely to the second heading, though I shall also have to say something about the other two. First, what do we mean by a 'philosophy of history'? I take it to be a branch not of history but of philosophy. The philosopher tries to study the various forms of human experience sub specie aternitatis, relating them as best he can to experience as a whole.