Marx's father wanted him to become a lawyer like himself and sent him through the best of schools in Treves. In 1835 Marx's father sent him to study at the University of Bonn. It was at the University of Bonn that Karl Marx began to fool around and not take his studies serious. His father, in disgust, transferred him to the University of Berlin, which had a reputation for a more intellectual faculty and student body. Karl Marx's father died in 1838 before he became fully aware of his son's political aspirations.
Marxism combines the philosophy, history, and the economic theories into one. First, Marxism is a philosophical movement. Marx's ideas about human nature, and about how we know and function in the world came from traditions articulated by Hegel, Feuerbach, Kant, and other German philosophers (Worsley 31). Marxism helps create and define a branch of philosophy called dialectical materialism. Second, Marxism also belongs to a form a history known as historical materialism. Historical materialism shows that history, or social change, occurs through human forces, and not because of G-d, destiny, or some unknown non-human force that shapes events. The Marxist view of history holds that the moving force of social organization- the force that makes change and history- are people and their tools, and the work that people do with these tools. These tools are often referred by Karl Marx as "instruments of production" or as "forces of production." Marxists also believe that human labor (people and how they use their tools) has a social character. In addition, people live in social groups, not in isolation, and they always organize their social groups in some way. As a historian, Marx identifies five basic historical developments of production: the primitive community, the slave state, the feudal state, capitalism, and socialism. Third, Marxism is an economic theory.