Study On Marx’s Philosophy Of Rights

Marx’s philosophy of rights, theoretically based on modern western philosophy of rights, arises from the thoughts of several brilliant modern western legal philosophers.John Locke, the forefather of western liberalism and a representative of liberalist philosophy of rights, proposes the philosophy of natural law centering on human natural rights, and his argument for the justice of rights presupposes the existence of natural rights, leading to its metaphysical nature. Rousseau, on the basis of the “public will” theory, forms his own philosophy of rights by criticizing and improving the modern philosophy of natural law and introducing the concept of “civil society”. But his argument for the justice of rights is based on the very abstract concept “public will”, also resulting in its metaphysical nature. Based on the abstract moral law of transcendental idealism and with the principle of “Imperative Order”, Kant’s philosophy of rights takes as the core realizing the coexistence of people’s will and trying to find a new philosophical basis for the freedom and rights of the people. However, its transcendental rationalist nature makes it abstract and weak. Hegel epitomizes modern philosophy of rights. He, on the basis of “Imperative Order”, tries to overcome the separation between phenomena and the thing itself in Kant’s philosophy of rights, to unify the thought and the existence. Hegel accomplishes the formation of modern philosophy of rights, but his advocating “Absolute Spirit” decides the metaphysical nature of his philosophy of rights. Marx’s materialist philosophy of rights, by criticizing the modern philosophy of rights, especially Hegel’s philosophy of rights, reveals the true nature of the philosophy of rights, and ignites a revolution in the field of the philosophy of rights. Marx’s materialist philosophy of rights traces back to Kant’s rationalist philosophy of rights, Hegel’s objective idealist philosophy of rights and Feuerbach’s semi-materialist philosophy of rights, and finally evolves into materialist philosophy of rights. The evolution process moves from new rationalist philosophy of rights, to semi-materialist philosophy of rights⑩, eventually to the final formation of materialist philosophy of rights.One of the major differences between Marx’s philosophy of rights and the views held by other modern philosophers of rights like Hegel is that Marx has found the earthly path to human freedom, not the celestial one proposed by Hegel. To realize human freedom is the goal of Marx’s philosophy of rights(which is also the eternal objective of other philosophers of rights). Modern philosophers of rights represented by Hegel describe freedom as coming from the spirit within. The essence of Hegel’s philosophy of rights is the freedom of legal rights. Marx criticizes Hegel’s standard for measuring freedom and the path to freedom. Marx finds that human freedom can only be realized in an earthly way, which means the work of philosophy is not to make thoughts embodied in the political rules, but to make the existing political rules dissolved in the abstract thoughts. Marx breaks Hegel’s state myth on the ground of the realization of the commonwealth of free people. In Hegel’s view, the state is simply an imaginary community and, to realize human freedom, the community must be broken. Marx’s critique of Hegel’s design of state power system is to expose the illusory nature of the state. The gist of Marx’s philosophy of rights is to realize human freedom.Any philosopher of rights can never avoid two closely-related questions, what the law is and what the law should be, because the two questions make the essence of the philosophy of rights. To tackle the many problems arising in rights theories and practice, the two questions must be answered first. Marx always takes exploring the essence of the rights as the starting point of his study on the philosophy of rights, which is the core of Marx’s study of law. By taking history as a mirror and analyzing the relationship between the law and social economic conditions, Marx reaches the conclusion that the law is the embodiment of legal rights in social economic relations, exposes the intrinsic connection between the law and the wills of the ruling class, makes clear the development process of the law and its basic principles, and reveals the birth, development and the extinction of the law. Marx’s proposition as to the nature of the law lays a solid theoretical foundation for his materialistic philosophy of rights. After giving his answer to the question “what the law is”, Marx continues to deal with the question “what the law should be”, which is the top concern of legal philosophers. Therefore, some scholars believe the philosophy of rights is the very philosophy of values. In dealing with the nature of law, Marx indeed recognizes the values of the law. From the perspective of historic materialism, Marx analyzes man’s nature scientifically, finding the relationship between the individuals, the state and the society. The values of law can be defined as the goals or ideals man tries to achieve by utilizing the law to answer the question what the law should be. The values of law lie in interpersonal relations. The values of law include fundamentals such as justice, rights and order, among which there must be conflicts. Marx’s theories of the values of the philosophy of rights provide guidance in dissolving these conflicts.