Comparison Of Karl Marx And Matthew Arnold :: essays research papers

Comparison of Karl Marx and Matthew ArnoldThrough their writing, Karl Marx and Matthew Arnold show their opposingviews on the immensity of internal and external functions of enculturation. In thefirst chapter of Culture and Anarchy, " fragrance and luminousness", Arnold describes husbandry as being responsible for the progress of politics and companionship and as"the best knowledge and thought of the time" (19). Matthew Arnolds culture is ground on two main aspects, religious belief and teaching method. Karl Marx, however, stronglycontrasts Arnolds ideas. Marx views culture as being derived from the emanation of the sciences.     Matthew Arnolds definition of culture comes from "a mid-nineteenth-century Germanic notion of culture which is founded upon his survey of Goethe andSchiller" (19). He believed many other cultures argon based on the thought ofcuriosity and on scientific expansion. Arnold believed culture was based on theexpa nsion of the individuals mind only through education can a perfectculture be reached. In his writings, Arnold give tongue to that for a man to becultured he has to be informal in both religion and classic literature. AlthoughArnolds culture sought the advancement of the human mind he did not wantpeople to let down wrapped up in technology. "Faith in machinery is, I said, ourbesetting endangerment often in machinery most absurdly disproportioned to the endwhich this machinery" (23). Arnold believes his culture is "to a greater extent interestingand more far-reaching than that other, which is founded solely on the scientificpassion for intentional" (21). Arnold believed that culture dealt with perfectionas he stated in "Sweetness and Light", "Culture is then(prenominal) properly describe not ashaving its origin in curiosity, but as having its origin in the get laid ofperfection it is a study of perfection" (21). Arnold also says that culture isth e aim to make the moral and social characteristics of individualsprevail. Because culture is a study of perfection, then it is also an "inwardcondition of the mind and spirit, not in an superficial set of circumstances"(Arnold 23). Arnold states that, "In thus making sweetness and sparkle to becharacters of perfection, culture is of like spirit with poetry" (25).     Matthew Arnold felt that religion was an important aspect of culture.Arnold felt that when the reason of God prevailed all golf club will be cultured.As Arnold states, "Now, then, is the moment for culture to be of service,culture which believes in making reason and the will of God prevail, believes inperfection, is the study of perfection," (21). Marx states that the rulingclass of culture would be the intellectual and material force, he makes no