In this statement, Karl Marx puts forth the essential ideals of his philosophy: it is not enough to simply study and analyze the world as it is; instead, one must make deliberate attempts to change the world in substantial ways. Marx was commenting on the tendency of philosophers to only expand on ideas already put forth by their predecessors; instead of trying to put out new ideas, they would remain stuck in their ruts of rethinking old ideas. Marx intended for philosophy to become a rapidly changing field, with new ideas that changed the way that people viewed others, themselves, and the world. With this change, people would be able to see the underlying dishonesty of existing cultural systems and take steps to alter them; Marx's own philosophy drew on prior work, but created an entirely new system of class-warfare and revolution that has persisted in cultural thought to this day.