Marxism has been the most influential and destructive body of social thought in the last century. Studies of Marxism, however, overlook its philosophical structure, and focus only on selected parts of the whole. This course will approach Marxism as a philosophical system of thought by examining: its metaphysics, epistemology and ethics; its origins in French materialism, utopian socialism, Christian millennialism and Hegelian idealism; and its implementation in our troubled century. (1990's highest rated course)