Economic and social conditions Essay

If one is not historical, then it was unscientific. The historical process that had commenced for millennia in the development of societies was a product of scientific processes and vice versa. Friedrich Engels had greatly contributed to the exposition of historical dynamics. A history that was ever changing was always in constant contradiction with the forces within and without. As it had been definitely asserted, historical materialism being a part of a dialectic philosophy was not just narrowly limited to a â€Å"study†. It was a scientific process wherein events were investigated and researched. From these gathered data a hypothesis was derived and tested or compared if that assertion applied to universal condition. History thereof was a result of contradictions, a making of man, not just simply a compilation of events that transpired in the past. Only in such a way that history became a science. Thus Engels, a true revolutionary in his time, presented history according to the material basis of the existence of societies. He discussed the evolution of such societies as subsequent effects of the past that were constantly playing interconnected and interwoven stories. These stories without the other were simply incomplete, hence unscientific. Here he illustrated the formation of history as a result of humanity’s struggle to attain its aims, therefore its own creation and its own being. However, Engels’ history did not consider man simply a being with presupposed actions, knowledge or decisions. To him man was a becoming which had moulded the society that he belongs to. His propensity to survive had been inseparably intertwined with the progress of the economy and to all other aspects of social existence Facts and figures were simply not what history was. Facts and figures did say something but not substantially anything. History was a correlation and interrelationships between and among facts and figures. Without finding those connections, these facts and figures were mere ink and paper –insignificant. Hitherto, Engels’ works remained to be of great influence in the struggles of oppressed peoples and of the international proletariat. This came into reality because Engels’ works were connected to the material foundations of human existence. His ideas and theories were not alienated: theories that were felt and ideas that were tangible and inseparable from the activities of societies. As materialists viewed the nature of humankind and the processes that commenced herein, matter preceded consciousness. Engels’ historical and philosophical analysis did not surface out of mere conception of abstract economic and historical fables. They were a result of the effects of the economic and social conditions existing at that time. Societies came into reality first. From those realities a consciousness was obtained. Engels was enabled to scientifically analyze the future of societies based on the reasons that had caused past societies to progress into what they are at present. Certainly, Engels’ life was no different from the society he intended to explain. What had moulded him in becoming such a great influence in socio-economic paradigms and in the formulation of Marxism surely had a basis in his past. The events that took place during that time were interconnected with his identity. Engels himself was a laboratory of proving that man is a â€Å"becoming† and of contradictions. From these contradictions of the positive and negative factors that had gone through his age, a new form from the antagonisms of the old was drawn. Hence, his life and works were a result of scientific processes. The Friedrich Engels that we knew was a fruit of the reactions among the material conditions that he was exposed to and a synthesis of numerous theses and anti-theses.