Marx on natural science

This thesis begins with biographical details of Marx's studies of natural science and, before looking at Marx's theorisation of the latter, reconstructs the theorisation of natural science within the Marxist tradition. Marx's own theorisation of natural science is placed within the context of his materialist conception of history which states the thesis that "social being determines consciousness". Consciousness, including natural science, is located within specific social relations of production. The thesis concentrates on Marx's Critique of Political Economy by contextualising natural science within Marx's analysis of capitalist relations of production, the basis of which is, for Marx, the value-form, leading to the capitalform. The letter's development, capital accumulation, is dependent on the extraction of surplus-value through the "real subsumption of labour under capital". This is achieved via the practical application of natural science in the form of technology in the production process. Thus, the development of natural science is theorised in direct connection with the extraction of surplus-value. Given the direct link of natural science with the extraction of surplus- value, it is inferred that natural science has been, and continues to be, developed by and for the needs of capital. The thesis concludes: the capital-form stamps its mark on our knowledge of nature and production; thus, natural science cannot be viewed as an autonomous force independent of the social relations it finds itself in.