This question <218|405> overall <245|248> Polo: <10|440>. graded B

Question 277: Where else should one start science if not with facts? How did Marx himself come to his findings?

[246] Polo: It is true that we should start science with facts, but we should also start it with questions. From questions, we try to find answers to them from facts. And facts come from examples we see in the world everyday that can't be changed. Marx comes to these findings by doing research himself and also from the research of others. But, if he had just used the research of others, there would be no way for him to come up with his own theory. The research done by others had led their theories to seem true, but afterwards, had been proven to be false. Thus, it can be intimated that the research itself might be faulty and not to be trusted. So Marx used the research of others to know what is not true, and then used facts that he had researched himself to come up with a theory, instead of doing what some people had done and created a theory and then researched facts to support it.

Hans: You are underestimating how much Marx owed to his predecessors. We all do. Science is a social process.

But you are right, Marx wanted to make a better theory than his predecessors. How did he do this, how could he know that his theory was better? By its ability not only to explain the facts, but to also explain what was right and what was wrong in the alternative theories.

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