لودفيغ فورباخ ونهاية الفلسفة الكلاسيكية الألمانية

Cuadernos de Pasado y Presente #59

by Friedrich Engels, فريدريك إنجلس

On the philosophy of Hegel and Feuerbach, and the essence and tasks of philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction, History, Theory, Germany, Classics

77 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1886

About the author

German social theorist Friedrich Engels collaborated with Karl Marx on The Communist Manifesto in 1848 and on numerous other works.

With the help of Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867-1894).

Friedrich Engels, a philosopher, political, historian, journalist, revolutionary, and also a businessman, closest befriended his lifelong colleague.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedri...

Reviews

[Σταμάτης Καρασαββίδης · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest and easy to read explainations of what dialectical and historical materialism really is. I'd definitely suggest this book to anyone new wanting to learn what dialectical materialism behind Marxism really is and what it stands for. Appart from that Engels makes some rather difficult concepts of Hegelian philosophy pretty easy and accessible and makes him (Hegel) less threatening to read. All in all a perfect book for what it intends to to.

(Επίσης οι σημειώσεις των εκδόσεων "Θεμέλιο" ήταν άψογες και ακόμα και στις Θέσεις του Μαρξ οι επεξηγήσεις ήταν λεπτομερείς και πολύ κατανοητές παρέχοντας το context του σε τι ακριβώς αναφέρεται ο Μαρξ για αυτούς που δεν έχουν μελετήσει τον Feuerbach)

5/5

[Φώτης Καραμπεσίνης · Rating 5 out of 5]

Φοιτητικά αναγνώσματα. Ωραίες εποχές, μια άλλη "γλυκιά διάσταση".

[thekar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book serves as a synopsis of Marx's/Engels' philosophy of nature and history, specifically dialectical and historical materialism. When Engels published this small book, the more extended related work, "the German Ideology", wasn't out, so Engels believed that a more philosophical work about the matter was needed. In any case, German Ideology is much larger, thus this book comes in handy. I personally like Engels; he is a cheerful writer, with witty phrases inside the text, and he really cares for his reader to understand him.

This book basically tells the story how Marx and Engels were introduced to materialism via reading Feuerbach, while being back then Young/Left Hegelians. During the process they rejected and, at the same time, continued to respect both; Hegel envisioned a world of ideas in motion, and Feuerbach believed that ideas originated on human feelings, with the latter being static and eternal. Marx mixed these two concepts and envisioned a world of matter which undergoes constant changes. These changes in human society, in particular, then are reflected to ideologies and states.


Perhaps one of the best introductions to dialectical materialism, by one of its creators.

[Dani ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

thoughts:
I feel like a sieve pretending to be a bucket. I’ll have to read this again when I am more familiar with the topic, but I am honestly just happy I got through it the first time. You applaud, and I’ll do a deep bow, and then we’ll pretend for a while that I never read this.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather than an analysis of communist/socialist ideologies, this work looks at the concepts of dialectics, dialectical materialism, and certain philosophers misunderstanding or misrepresentation of these ideologies as potentially revolutionary ideas. It leads from Hegel's dialectics, to the understanding of materliams, to Feuerbach's (what I can gather) misuse of Hegel, to Marx's unification of dialectics and materialism and the disposing of philosophers such as Feuerbach, and thus classical German philosophy as a whole.

A good read for those interested in the more specific philosophical underpinnings of Marxism.

[Lio Lio · Rating 5 out of 5]

أسلوبك انجلس الرائع البسيط حد التعقيد في ذاته ، وعقليته النقدية الذفة تجعلني لا أنتهي تماماً من مطالعة كتاب كتبه إلا وعزمت العود إلى قراءته مجدداً ..

ملخص ، وموجز وفي الصميم في نقد الفلسفات المثالية بأسلوب لاينقصه براعة الاستدلال.

لا يفوت أبداً الفرصة لإطلاعك على ما قد تحتاج معرفته !

كتاب مهم ، ربما ألخصه بعد الفراغ من -شوية- مشغوليات ;D

[Shulamith Farhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important as a model for writing a materialist history of philosophy. In this review, I will focus on a less well known aspect of the book, namely its critique of Feuerbach.

Engels cheers Feuerbach on for his materialism, but argues that he remains an idealist when it comes to religion, seeking not to abolish it but to perfect it. Eros becomes the highest form of Feuerbach's new religion, culminating in an unmediated encounter between I and Thou. For Feuerbach, "Politics must become our religion," a religion grounded on the urge for bliss, rational self-restraint and love of the Other. Engels (no doubt uncharitably) compares Feuerbach's ethics to financial speculation:

"If my urge for bliss leads me to the Stock Exchange, and if there I correctly gauge the consequences of my actions so that only agreeable results and no disadvantages ensue, that is, if I always win, then I am fulfilling Feuerbach's precept. Moreover, I do not thereby interfere with the equal right of another person to pursue his bliss; for that other man went to the Exchange just as voluntarily as I did and in concluding the speculative transaction with me he has followed his urge for bliss as I have followed mine."

Engels' point is sound, if unfair. It is not enough to criticize the fantasmatic projections of idealism only to retreat to a cult of abstract man; materialists must investigate the historical development of all ideas, rejecting "every idealist quirk which could not be brought into harmony with the facts conceived in their own, and not in a fantastic, interconnection."

[José · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a recommendation to understand without reading Hegel - I only have one life and dedicating time to both work and reading Hegel sounds like too terrible of a life.

Here, Engels aptly gives the best explanation of Hegelian dialectics I've read (I am, however, not an expert on this), particularly as applied to materialism. However, this materialism - that of Marx - is greatly different from other materialisms that came before it; rather than taking an ideology or a basic scientific concept as the motor of human and material progress, Marx's dialectical materialism does away with these basic concepts and looks instead at history and to its development - this dialectical materialism sees the world, correctly, as a rolling process rather than as a steady state which evolved from some sequence of steady state in a deterministic manner. Engels notes, showing great knowledge on a number of fields, that this is the consequence of recent developments in natural sciences, particularly Darwinian evolution (I do wonder what they thought of Kropotkin's theory of evolution) and theories on the creation of the solar system, that showed how the world is not a state, but rather a process. This to me is the great lesson of dialectical materialism - human society is a rolling process of changes, at the heart of which is confrontation between classes divided by the dramatically unequal distribution of capital (and, in a more recent formulation, of the ability of exerting power, be it in the form of race, ethnicity, gender, ability or caste, to name a few).

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute must read to understand the development of Marxism from German idealism. Hegel's thought represented a contradiction, a revolutionary aspect in the dialectic and a conservative aspect in the 'absolute idea'. Feuerbach made a start on developing the revolutionary aspect in Hegel by turning to materialism but never escaped the realm of abstraction. Marx, rather than setting Hegel on his head, turned him onto his feet, stood him upright with his eyes open.

[Andrew Feist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best short work of philosophy I've ever read. while German Ideology and 1844 have some superior aspects, they lack the lucid readibility of this text. Especially the brevity with which be both summarized and critiques Feuerbach & Hegel, situating them in their material context

[Timur Girindra Wardhana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard to understand... at least for me

[Lilé · Rating 3 out of 5]

" Only among the working class does the German aptitude for theory remain unimpaired. Here, it cannot be exterminated. Here, there is no concern for careers,for profit-making, or for gracious patronage from above. On the contrary, the more ruthlessly and disinterestedly science proceeds the more it finds itself in harmony with the interest and aspirations of the workers. The new tendency, which recognized that the key to the understanding of the whole history of society lies in the history of the development of labor, from the outset addressed itself by preference to the working class and here found the response which it neither sought nor expected from officially recognized science. The German working-class movement is the inheritor of German classical philosophy. " - Engals

[Corneel Minne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mijn 100ste boek is een product van de economische klasse! De leesclub wordt afgesloten 👻

[Nikki Metztli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly lucid exposition of the development of German philosophy from Hegel’s idealism to Feuerbach’s materialism to Marx’s historical materialism and the very necessity of it. Engels masterfully connects the evolution of human thought with the material conditions that shaped it, especially with his breakdown of religion — not as a mere system of beliefs, but as a reflection of class interests and the conditions of the material world. I’d like to do more research on religion’s role in class society, so this was a great starting point. So far, it’s my favorite text from Engels, and it feels like the culmination of everything he’s written up to this point. I recommend his other article “Bruno Bauer and Early Christianity” and Marx’s “On the Jewish Question” as companions to this.

[Foley Stocks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting and informative read, perhaps not as enlightening as some claim, but educational nonetheless, at least for the roots of dialectical materialism.

We see primarily in the first chapter Engels describing a portion of history of philosophy, intertwined, as it necessarily is, with philosophy of history: he moves from a description of Hegel’s own philosophical system, directly through to Feuerbach by virtue of Hegel’s own philosophy, or rather the dialectic specifically, as Engels is distinctly anti-idealist. It is interesting to note the way in which Engels’ own philosophical leanings shape the way he views history, and from that basis the way his philosophy of history is shaped (as they both must inform each other, even if plain knowledge of history comes first, it must still be affected by one’s preexisting ideas): materialism appears to ground us in the real, material history, and thus give us a solid foundation, yet it is for the just-mentioned reason that this foundation is already affected, and so Hegel’s idealism, which sees reality as having a conceptual structure, already accounts for this within the subject. Perhaps for the very reason that Engels sought to see the ‘sublation’ of Hegel’s own system, that being the sheer scope of ‘absolute truth’ (the “dogmatism” of which Engels claims to be self-contradicting), is precisely what delivers us back to it.
Nonetheless it is a clearly written explanation of the historical tides that took philosophy from Hegel, to the division between the young Hegelians and Right Hegelians, and then to Feuerbach cutting through with an "old materialism", which would be used and moved beyond by Marx Engels.

Moving forward, Engels, in the second chapter, begins with a description of the development of the notion of a god, and then shifts to a description of the materialist position, that being that this is merely an abstraction of ‘objectified subjectivity’ and the “personification of natural forces”. He then also, in opposition, outlines the idealist position, which he claims to be those “who asserted the primacy of spirit to nature and, therefore, in the last instance, assumed world creation in some form or other”.
He has an interesting remark which suggests that idealism is in fact a backwards materialism, the result only of the aforementioned history:

from Descartes to Hegel and from Hobbes to Feuerbach, the philosophers were by no means impelled…solely by the force of pure reason. On the contrary. What really pushed them forward was the powerful and ever more rapidly onrushing progress of natural science and industry. Among the materialists this was plain on the surface, but the idealist systems also filled themselves more and more with a materialist content and attempted pantheistically to reconcile the antithesis between mind and matter. Thus, ultimately, the Hegelian system represents merely a materialism idealistically turned upside down in method and content.

Also, there is this further remark about Feuerbach's development:

With irresistible force Feuerbach is finally forced to the realisation that the Hegelian pre-mundane existence of the “absolute idea,” the “pre-existence of the logical categories” before the world existed is nothing more than the fantastic survival of the belief in the existence of an extra-mundane creator…Matter is not a product of the mind, but mind itself is merely the highest product of matter.

I mention this primarily because I love the way this is written: as though Feuerbach’s ultimate realisation is a tragic yet necessary, a bittersweet, moment in the course of philosophy.

The rest of the text is dedicated to moving beyond Feuerbach's philosophy and establishing the case for dialectical and historical materialism, with an emphasis on a turn to recognition of class struggle as the form all political struggle takes. It is as you would expect, and pretty clear, though perhaps a bit repetitive in certain sections that appear to restate formerly established points.

The 'Outcome of Classical German Philosophy' is thus capped off with the conclusion, "the German working class is the inheritor of German classical philosophy.”

[Hassan Zayour · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Engels (with the assistance of Marx, of course, although the latter died before thoroughly discussing the issue at hand) established the philosophical basis for the socialist philosophy. This act was in essence aided by the refutation of Feurbach, a preceding philosopher who managed to set some cornerstones while demolishing others, particularly with his 'idealistic' understanding of religion as 'a universal form of love' (hihihi). Engels excused the latter due to the indirectly enforced state of isolation he was living in, noticed his excellence, and moved on from that to demonstrate the philosophical framework of socialism, manifest in its most excellent of forms as the Marxist perception of history, eventually leading to communism.
Of course, this work came later on, after the death of Marx; thus, and due to the heavy experience of many years, one manages to sense its philosophical maturity and comprehensiveness, an aspect which might have been missing earlier on. The center of that ideology is still the same: studying history as a conflict between the two economical classes, a materialistic approach at its best. The rather 'abstract' ideas of Hegel, particularly his well-known dialectical process, has been borrowed and applied on history; Hegel employs his method on a rather notional realm of ideas, and not in a practical sense.
I am not in a position to accept nor refute such a philosophy, although I disagree with it on a fundamental level. From my perspective, it is rather simplistic to limit the study of history and narrow it down into a polar opposition, although the latter probably existed (and still does); to be fair, nonetheless, this struggle during the times of Marx and Engels was evinced the most, and that is mainly due to the industrial revolution; one would have to be blind to dismiss this observation. However, this does not mean that it is safe to project that on the entirety of history, observing this seemingly infinitely complex field of study into a mere opposition between the two classes. That is to say the least, I still have not ventured on dismissing communism as a solution for that (something which requires more study; I might agree with it after all, but this is highly unlikely; I am, eventually, an abstract idealist - my realm is elsewhere).
I admire both Marx and Engels, I think they were both exceptional philosophers who managed to give life to the Hegelian work, as they were true to their cause, and consistent with their currents of thought, a virtue which marks excellent minds: consistency. I also firmly believe that most of their followers have not read their books.
(Here, I would like to recall that the eventual aim of an educated mind is to entertain thoughts without necessarily accepting them.)

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engels has a strange view of natural science (perhaps he is to blame for Alan Woods). I cannot speak to his interpretation of Feuerbach, although I do suspect that his disparagement of romantic communism may be peremptory given its revival in people like John Holloway. But concerning natural science, he appears to believe that there were no premonitions of the 'three great scientific discoveries' of the 19th century: of evolution, the cell, and the convertibility of energy. Diderot was already hypothesising about evolution in the 1700s, and Engels' views on the possibility of chemically replicating life are certainly over-enthusiastic.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential weapon in my friend’s continuing mission to knock down my shabbily built walls of metaphysicality and put me on the path of materialism. Not sure how I feel about everything expressed here, but some of that is a revulsive reaction to being intellectually cornered into giving up the solace I’ve found in Mystery.

[Ilkay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for understanding historical and dialectical materialism.

[Miles Tiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated how many times Engels circled back to talk about how superior Lord Hegel’s thought was to the charlatans of his time such as Feuerbach, Jacobi, Schleiermacher, etc.

[Mio · Rating 5 out of 5]

extrem gute historische herleitung der marxistischen philosophie

[Milas · Rating 4 out of 5]

baba sen bu isi biliyon he

[G Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been reading this as a break from reading about the Russian revolution for my leadoff but managed to find the most perfect quote for describing the role of revolutionary leadership

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fire

[Agustus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Menandai titik tolaknya ke perjuangan sosialisme berlandas ilmu ekonomi-politik, Marx-Engels memulainya dengan sebuah dokumen pendek yang berisi rangkuman kritik filsafat berjudul On Feuerbach (1845) atau yang biasa dikenal dengan Tesis-Tesis Feuerbach.

Sebagai fondasi filsafatnya, Marx-Engels sangat dipengaruhi oleh filsafat Hegel (dalam dialektika) dan Feuerbach (dalam materialisme). Namun hal itu bukannya tanpa kritik.

Marx misalnya, sejak masa mudanya mengkritik berbagai posisi filsafat Hegel yang bersifat idea-sentris, dan sebagai konsekuensinya, tidak realistis. Begitu pula dengan filsafat Feuerbach.

Meski Feuerbach telah mengetengahkan filsafat materialisme lebih jauh hingga memengaruhi banyak filsuf muda Jerman saat itu, namun pikirannya tentang "hakikat manusia" berangkat dari sejumput ide-ide abstrak ke-maha manusia-an "universal", alih-alih dari realitas konkretnya.

Sayangnya hingga Marx wafat, sebagaimana dijelaskan Engels, keduanya tidak pernah sempat untuk menuntaskan posisi filsafat mereka dalam posisi yang lebih kukuh dari sekadar catatan "terburu-buru" mereka (maksudnya On Feuerbach) sehubungan dengan posisi Hegel dan Feuerbach.

Maka menjelang masa akhir kehidupannya itulah Engels menerbitkan buku polemik filsafat ini, yang menjelaskan titik-titik persinggungan dan perceraian filsafat Marx-Engels dengan Hegel dan Feuerbach.

"Tetapi langkah yang tidak diambil oleh Feuerbach bagaimanapun harus diambil. Pemujaan terhadap manusia abstrak, yang merupakan inti agama baru Feuerbach, harus diganti oleh ilmu tentang manusia-manusia nyata beserta perkembangan sejarahnya." (F. Engels, 1886)

Barangkali lebih dari sekadar upaya menghargai keduanya sebagai peletak fondasi pada filsafat Marx dan Engels. Tapi melampaui mereka adalah soal untuk kemajuan pengetahuan dan kemanusiaan di masa mendatang.

[Olivier Turbide · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une des meilleures synthèses de la philosophie marxiste qui existe, Engels exprime mieux en peu de mots ce que d’autres n’arriveraient pas à exprimer dans des briques de 1000 pages

[Camila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma descrição muito didática de Engels sobre o desenvolvimento do idealismo por Hegel e Feuerbach, traçando paralelos com o desenvolvimento das ciências naturais e da história. Uma boa leitura para entender as diferenças entre idealismo, materialismo e materialismo histórico e compreender as bases da teoria marxiana e engeliana.

[Selçuk Çelikel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engel's point of view on the historical process of the Western philosophy in alignment with social and economical progress was illuminating.
After watching Mr. Robot, my curiosity led me to Feuerbach's philosophy.
Self alienation from the morals and virtues to another plane seemed appropriate. Religion dissolves in society as we experience in today's world. To illustrate this, he supposes the humanity to be abstract and therefore, only comprehended as a species with natural identity of qualities in which many individuals are embraced. Abstract individual which he analyzes in 1848, belongs in today's reality. Lİfe of society is practical. All the mysteries which seduce speculative thought into mysticism find their solution in human practice and in concepts of this practice. The highest point to which materialism attains, that is the materialism which compreheneds sensation, not as a practical fact, is the point of view of the single individual

[Pavel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because Engels himself recommends it as one of the best explanations of historical materialism available. But the basic idea is get off with saying the modern science knows how the conscientiousness comes about, while I was eager to hear how it could be done. (Anyone saying this clearly shows he is not yet conscious of his own conscientiousness. And perhaps it is senseless to expect materialism will ever explain conscientiousness or at least grasp the fact it can never explain it.) Nevertheless, the book offers Marxism given from the first hand, it is short, popular and easy to understand. The interesting point - Marxism is just Hegel strongly vulgarized and turned upside down.