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Ideas for 'works', 'The German Ideology' and '74: Reply to Colotes'

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3 ideas

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
Consciousness is a social product [Marx/Engels]
     Full Idea: Consciousness is from the very beginning a social product.
     From: K Marx / F Engels (The German Ideology [1846], §1.A)
     A reaction: This slogan has produced the sociological view of truth which has stood opposed to philosophy for the last 150 years. It would be silly to deny that there is a good point here, but equally silly to think that all consciousness is explicable in this way.
Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal [Aristotle, by Fogelin]
     Full Idea: To the best of my knowledge (and somewhat to my surprise), Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal; however, he all but says it.
     From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.1
     A reaction: When I read this I thought that this database would prove Fogelin wrong, but it actually supports him, as I can't find it in Aristotle either. Descartes refers to it in Med.Two. In Idea 5133 Aristotle does say that man is a 'social being'. But 22586!
The nature of an individual coincides with what they produce and how they produce it [Marx/Engels]
     Full Idea: As individuals express their life, so they are; what they are, therefore, coincides with their production, both with what they produce and with how they produce.
     From: K Marx / F Engels (The German Ideology [1846], §1.A)
     A reaction: This appears to be contradicted by their subsequent idea that 'alienation' from the means of production is possible. Presumably intellectuals (in all ages) are to some extent exempt from this rule. It is, in fact, not true.