Karl Marx writes: It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but rather their social existence that determines their consciousness. Explain the meaning of this thesis. Your presentation should focus on highlighting the origin of human consciousness. It will have to integrate central elements of historical materialism, and insist on the notion of ideology. You will have to seek to clear the anthropological foundations (man as a social being, and the question of work) of Marxian thought, and, quickly, the criticism he addresses has a certain philosophy of consciousness.