“The direct, natural, and necessary relation of person to person”

“The direct, natural, and necessary relation of person to person” is Marx’s formulation for the relation between man and woman, presented here as a test of how fully human beings have become human to one another. Its significance lies not in treating this relation as merely biological, but in making it disclose whether human nature has been realized as a human, rather than merely natural, relation.

The relation as a measure of human nature

The passage argues that the relation between man and woman is the most natural relation between human beings. From its character, Marx says, one can understand how far man, as a species-being, has become himself and comprehended himself. The relation thus serves as a measure: it reveals how far natural behavior has become human behavior, and how far human essence has become natural to the person rather than remaining an abstraction.

From description to freedom

The text endorses Marx’s formulation and draws a political and ethical consequence from it. In the given world, the triumph of freedom depends on human action; carrying off that victory requires men and women, beyond their natural differentiations, to affirm their brotherhood unequivocally. The relation is therefore not simply a fact to be observed. It is a field in which a more human form of coexistence must be made.

Citation and significance

The formulation is attributed to Marx and cited from Philosophical Works, Volume 6, with Marx’s italics noted; the accompanying reference identifies the corresponding edition as Marx and Engels, Collected Works, Volume 6. In the book’s conclusion, the quotation links the question of relations between women and men to the broader possibility of freedom: their humanity is tested not by abolishing difference, but by overcoming subordination through mutual recognition and brotherhood.