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A Buddhist Critique of Marx: Unveiling Flaws in "Desire"
- Philosophy East and West
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 72, Number 4, October 2022
- pp. 924-939
- 10.1353/pew.2022.0089
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
There is a fundamental flaw at the heart of Karl Marx's approach to the alleviation of human suffering. That flaw lies in his commitment to a conception of the person—technically, the ego—that centers on desire/satisfaction, and, deepening the problem, does so in a way that underplays the centrality to all desire/satisfaction beyond that of the most elemental bodily desires, of that element that Hegel termed "recognition." Remedying this failure gives an understanding of desire and suffering that is essentially that of the Buddha.