Karl Marx explains Marx's views from a philosophical standpoint and defends Marx against common misunderstandings and criticisms of his views. This new edition includes a new chapter on exploitation and a substantial new preface.

Allen Wood is Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University. His previous publications include Kant's Moral Religion (1970), Kant's Rational Theology (1978), Hegel's Ethical Thought (1990), and Kant's Ethical Thought (1999).

Preface to the Second Edition -- Biographical Sketch -- Introduction -- PART -- Alienation -- 1 The Concept of Alienation -- 1 The young Marx's 'theory' of alienation -- 2 What is 'alienation'? -- 3 Alienation and false consciousness -- 4 Alienation and practice -- 2 The Human Essence -- 1 The species being -- 2 Species consciousness and alienation -- 3 Self-actualization -- 4 Human essential powers -- 3 Human Production -- 1 Conscious life activity -- 2 Labor as self-affirmation -- 3 Objectification and appropriation -- 4 Alienation and Capitalism -- 1 The capitalist division of labor -- 2 Capitalism and freedom -- 3 Assessing Marx on capitalist alienation -- PART -- Historical Materialism -- 5 Production and Society -- 1 'Economic determinism' -- 2 Productive powers, production relations -- 3 A 'technological' theory of history? -- 4 Productive powers and historical development -- 6 Classes -- 1 Social relations, property relations -- 2 History and social classes -- 3 Class interests -- 4 Class struggles -- 7 Materialist Explanations -- 1 Historical materialism as an empirical hypothesis -- 2 Materialist explanations are teleological -- 3 Is Marx a historical teleologist? -- 8 Materialism, Agency and Consciousness -- 1 Is Marx a determinist? -- 2 Three senses of 'ideology' -- 3 Ideology and science -- PART -- Marxism and Morality -- 9 Marx on Right and Justice -- 1 Does Marxism have moral foundations? -- 2 Marx's concept of justice -- 3 Capitalism and commodity exchange -- 4 Capital exploits justly -- 10 Morality as Ideology -- 1 The social function of morality -- 2 Marxism and utilitarianism -- 3 Is Marx an immoralist? -- 4 Why should a Marxist be moral? -- 5 Marx's attitude toward morality, and our attitude -- PART -- Philosophical Materialism -- 11 Materialist Naturalism -- 1 What is materialism? -- 2 Marx's atheism -- 3 The essentiality of humanity and nature -- 12 Materialist Realism -- 1 Knowledge and practice -- 2 The contemplative attitude -- 3 Is Marx an idealist? -- PART -- The Dialectical Method -- 13 The Hegelian Dialectic -- 1 Hegel's vision of reality -- 2 Organic development or dialectic -- 3 Dialectic and formal logic -- 14 The Marxian Dialectic -- 1 The 'rational kernel' in the 'mystical shell' -- 2 'Inverting' Hegel -- 3 Reproducing the concrete in thought -- 15 Dialectic in Capital -- 1 The structure of 'Capital' -- 2 Values and production prices -- 3 The law of value -- 4 Value and exploitation -- 16 Capitalist Exploitation -- 1 What is exploitation? -- 2 The vulnerability of labor to capital -- 3 Capitalist apologetics about exploitation -- 4 What is bad about capitalist exploitation? -- 5 How to think about capitalist exploitation -- Concluding Remark -- Notes -- Some Further Reading -- Index