ENGL 200 D: Reading Literature: Literature in the Marketplace

“Men can be distinguished from animals by connsciousness, by religion or anything else you like. They themselves begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence, a step which is conditioned by their physical organisation.” (150).

In this section Marx is discussing the points that mark humans as different from animals. He says that men are different from animals based on our ability to become aware of ourselve and how we work in a larger system. Marx uses the example of religion because it is a system made up of many smaller systems of people all working toward a common goal, whether it be heaven or some other place. People are connected to one another through these various systems.

That idea works in general, but Marx also talks about the very moment when people discover their conciousness and the immidiate choices they make after this discovery. Men become different from animals as soon as “they begin produce their means of subsistence” meaning what we need to survive. Because there will almost be items or services needed to subsist that one cannot do themselves it forces people to become organized and agree upon who will do what to benefit the whole. This ability to organize ourselves and rely upon one another and the fact that we do it conciously and not based on driving insticnt is part of what makes us human.