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 importance of internal and external functions of cultivation. In thefirst chapter of Culture and Anarchy, " bouquet and nimbleness", Arnold describes gardening as being responsible for the progress of politics and society and as"the best knowledge and thought of the time" (19). Matthew Arnolds culture isbased on two main aspects, religion and education. Karl Marx, however, stronglycontrasts Arnolds ideas. Marx views culture as being derived from theadvancement of the sciences.     Matthew Arnolds definition of culture comes from "a mid-nineteenth-century Germanic notion of culture which is founded upon his study of Goethe andSchiller" (19). He believed many other cultures are based on the thought ofcuriosity and on scientific expansion. Arnold believed culture was based on theexpansion of the individuals mind onl y through education can a perfectculture be reached. In his writings, Arnold stated that for a man to be courtly he has to be versed in both religion and classic literature. AlthoughArnolds culture sought the advancement of the human mind he did not involvepeople to get wrapped up in technology. "Faith in machinery is, I said, ourbesetting danger often in machinery most absurdly disproportioned to the endwhich this machinery" (23). Arnold believes his culture is "more interestingand more far-reaching than that other, which is founded solely on the scientificpassion for knowing" (21). Arnold believed that culture dealt with nonesuchas he stated in "Sweetness and Light", "Culture is then properly describe not ashaving its origin in curiosity, but as having its origin in the love ofperfection it is a study of perfection" (21). Arnold also says that culture isthe endeavor to make the moral and social characteristics of individualsprevail. Because cultur e is a study of perfection, then it is also an " secretcondition of the mind and spirit, not in an outward set of circumstances"(Arnold 23). Arnold states that, "In thus making sweetness and light to becharacters of perfection, culture is of wish well 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 society will be cultured.As Arnold states, "Now, then, is the heartbeat 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 capable and material force, he makes no