The 19th century German philosopher Karl Marx thought that the ideas of the early socialist were irrational and set out to come up with a scientific basis for socialism. In Marx's opinion, history and other social sciences were the same as the physical sciences. If one understood the forces at work, one could then accurately predict the future outcome of something. marx thought he had discovered the basis laws of history. First of all, Marx believed that all conflict throughout history was economic in nature, no matter what the source appeared to be on the surface. All other sources of conflict in history (ethnic religion political) had at thier root an economic cause.