CHITTY THINKING

Karl Marx was the run-away winner of a recent poll, on the greatest ever philosopher, at Britain's Melvyn Bragg Radio 4 show, In Our Time. Andrew Chitty who teaches the UK's only MA in Marxist philosophy explains the result:

"This shows that philosophy should take Marxism seriously. It is possible he won because Marxists organised a mass vote; they're much more organised than Hegelians, for instance.

"But I think it's more likely that people understand that in this increasingly capitalist world Marx gives us the best vision with which to understand that world. Marx talks about capital in a philosophical way - he's unique in that."

Marxists understand the world? About the only thing they understand is the utility of violence.