Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

Human feelings bear a meaningful connection to human nature, and the feelings one has for an object reflect different kinds of gratification. In some cases, one affirms their satisfaction with the object by annihilating its existence, especially in the case of food or drink. Other human beings can also be objects of gratification. One of the most important connections is property, the connection with an object produced through one’s industry, generating both satisfaction and the possibility of further activity. Money is the ultimate object because it possesses the power to acquire any kind of satisfaction imaginable. Its power is such that it mediates the relationship between a human being and objects, as well as their relationship with other human beings. Marx quotes Goethe’s Faust, the legendary play about a man selling his soul to the devil, citing a line in which the devil talks about how purchasing something, even a living being like a horse, establishes total ownership. Marx then turns to Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens and a speech describing how money has the power to turn the moral order of the world upside down, especially to take something morally questionable and reframe it as good, to corrupt the most intimate relationships, to bend everyone to its purpose, and ultimately endowing the most ruthless with the most power.