Related Terms • bundle theory • essence vs. accident • accident

Definition:
Structuralist Marxism is a sociological bundle theory developed by Louis Althusser. Althusser argued that humans have no intrinsic qualities (or essence), but socially produced accidents. These accidents are the creation of social structures, and describing them allows us to describe both humans and the human condition. A practical result of this is that there is no essential "human nature" which cannot be changed, and so in order to change human behavior or attitudes, it is simply necessary to alter the appropriate social structures.

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What are Political and Legal Philosophy
The Philosophy of Politics and the Philosophy of Law are often studied separately, but they are presented here jointly because they both come back to the same thing: the study of force. Politics is the study of political force in the general community, while jurisprudence is the study of how laws can and should be used to achieve political and social goals.

What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?