The Critique Of Political Economy

It has been long since we have connected the excellent work of Marx with the criticism of political economy,at least in philosophy,rather than considering Das Kapital as a piece of economic work.Generally speaking,however,we are more likely to connect the criticism of the political economy of Marx's with the British classical political economics.Of course,it was during the period in London when Marx had spent a great deal of time in reading the British classical political economists' publications and neither could we forget the large number of references he quoted in Das Kaptial.In contrast,Marx considered that “Hegel's standing point is that of modern political economy” as an object for criticism.However,from many sources we could see that Hegel was not a conservative,on the contrary,he was extremely sympathetic to the French Revolution,and he was of critical awareness of the Christianity church.His far-reaching work Phenomenology of Spirit showed that as a rational subject one should constantly pursue the truth and freedom through the development of his reason,so that we could solve the phenomone that people are isolated and aliened from each other under capitalism.This is quite similar with what Marx has been seeking for,human liberation,in his whole life.Through the lectures of Gans in Berlin University,who was a radical Hegelian scholar,Young Marx was able to get access to Hegel's thought indirectly.Therefore,it is reasonable for us to believe that Hegel's thoughts have impact on young Marx.It is obvious from the early writings of Hegel's,that he was well aware of the classic political economists such as Adam Smith's work.Not only that,He maintained a good friendship with the renowned German economist Fredrich List.They share very similar views.Hegel developed his political economy which was opposite to Adam Smith's,characterized by the intervention of the state.From the position of political economy in his philosophy system,it was subsumed under the civil society.On the one hand,the political economy must meet the ends of people;on the other hand,the isolation and the trends of individual atomization in mordern society must be eliminated,which will certainly require individual interest be taken placed by national interest.By “mutual recognition” between people,Hegel established a new foundation of political economy theory.In the philosophy of Hegel,the principle of “recognition” has replaced the old one of classical political economics-natural law as its criticism.Concepts such as labor,ownership,as well as state countries have widened their meanings.Therefore,Hegel's theory constitutes a criticism of classical political economy.In traditional political economy,the relationship between the individual and the state is antagonistic.Since the State is to guarantee the normal operation of the market economy and people renounce their rights to enter the state just for better safeguarding their own interests.As a result,the people in the state just take the country as a tool to meet their needs.This separated the relationship between the individual and the state,which is totally described in Captialism.Facing the same situation,Marx chose a different way from Hegel,while the latter sought to rebuild the relationship between the individual and the state and restore the ethical life,Marx regarded the alienation was inevitable in the capitalist system,which was rooted in the private property therefore nothing can be done to resovle it but to revolute,and embark on a road of abondaning private property.