This question <125|123> overall <127|130> Hans: <127|136>.

Question 99: Why did God create something as imperfect as nature and humans? (And what does this have to do with the topic at hand?) Compare chapter 1 in Cohen's Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence.

[128] Hans: The imperfection of the world.   In Marx's philosophical outlook, existence if primary, it is the raw material from which we can make things. Marx was battling idealism all his life. Idealism claims that ideas are primary and existence only secondary. If someone holds the belief that our earthly existence is a test in which we have to prove our virtue, existence is not primary but our existence is a means to a higher end. The philosophical view that there is a perfect god, who created the earth and humans in order to get to know himself, also holds that god is primary and the earth secondary. Marx would reject all these views as idealistic.

Pete [123] and PAE [125] give another argument against the world being governed by perfect and immutable ideas. If this were the case, everything would be closed off, there would be no development and no freedom. In Marx's view, humans can build their own world. They will not be judged by whether they adhere to some ideas, but by the world which they are passing on to future generations.

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