For Marx, it was simple. People needed food and shelter, and what they did to get those things dictated events.

Because needs and wants were shared by large groups of people, it was the actions of economic classes, not individuals, which effectively drove human history. But it's hard to fully appreciate what Marx had to say about history without understanding complicated terms like dialectical and superstructure.

So to grasp how underlying material factors can limit what even the most powerful individuals can achieve, let's turn instead to the strange case of inventions--or, as William Fielding Ogburn wrote in 1926, "the very interesting fact that there are a number of inventions that have been invented by two or more inventors working independently and without knowledge of the other's work."

What can such apparent coincidences tell us about history? Perhaps that inventions and great scientific discoveries owe less to individual inventors and scientists than they do to prevailing economic conditions.

The invention of the steamboat, for example, may have had less to do with the particular genius of Robert Fulton (indeed, many historians credit others with the invention) than it did with an economy on the cusp of industrialization needing to transport people and goods more efficiently.

And the theory of natural selection? Perhaps it was less a case of brilliant scientific theorizing from the uniquely gifted mind of Charles Darwin (Alfred Russel Wallace simultaneously arrived at the same conclusions) than a way for economic elites to justify the immense benefits they derived from laissez-faire capitalism: just as the strongest animals got the most food, the smartest individuals accumulated the most wealth.


Charles Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace
History Study Center
© Getty Images

The flip side of this perspective is that, in the absence of favorable economic conditions, there's a limit to what even the most gifted inventors, scientists, and world leaders can achieve.

Activity

Select a major invention such as the cotton gin or the airplane. With reference to at least three journal articles from the History Study Center, write a 500-word essay describing the economic needs this invention met.

With reference to at least three journal articles, write a 500-word essay either supporting or refuting the following statement:

The relationship of an inventor to an invention is the same as the relationship of a "Great Man" to history.