What was the key idea of Ludwig Feuerbach?
Feuerbach argued that human beings must have created religion in an attempt to assert themselves against their natural limitations. He saw religion as the denial of dependence and the projection of a wish (Essence, 29). Religion, he believed, is an objectification of human wishing about limitless existence.
Why does Marx disagree with Feuerbach?
In rejecting Feuerbach’s identification of the theoretical attitude with the human attitude, Marx is criticizing him not so much for his inadequate materialism as for his vestigial idealism.
Does Ludwig Feuerbach believe in God?
Instead, Feuerbach concludes, “If man is to find contentment in God, he must find himself in God.” Thus God is nothing else than human: he is, so to speak, the outward projection of a human’s inward nature.
When did Marx write theses on Feuerbach?
1845
Written: by Marx in the Spring of 1845, but slightly edited by Engels; First Published: As an appendix to Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy in 1888; Source: Marx/Engels Selected Works, Volume One, p.
What does Marx say about religion?
Marx’s actual words regarding religion deserve reflection. My best translation of those words is as follows: “Religion is the opium of the people. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of our soulless conditions.”
Was Feuerbach a communist?
Feuerbach had a sort of political following in the literary, sentimental “True Socialism” which flourished briefly in 1845-7, and is criticised in the Communist Manifesto; but Feuerbach himself had no active relation with the “True Socialists”.
What did Marx mean by Thesis Eleven?
Rather, Thesis Eleven was a statement of Marx’s desire to situate philosophical thinking about social problems within history rather than outside it – Marx, not for the first time, flipping conventional wisdom on its head.
What did Ludwig Feuerbach say about God?
In 1841 Ludwig Feuerbach argued that God was a human invention, a spiritual device to help us deal with our fears and aspirations. This was bad news, because human beings projected all their good qualities onto God and saw him as compassionate, wise, loving and so on, while they saw themselves as greatly inferior.
What is Hegel and Feuerbach?
Hegel is the positive consummator of bourgeois philosophy and of philosophy in general. Feuerbach is its negative consummator. Through him religion as well as philosophy was destroyed by criticism. Hegel during the period of his greatest achievement was professor of philosophy at the University of Berlin.
What is the Eleventh Thesis on Feuerbach?
The Eleventh Thesis on Feuerbach — “Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it” — was used by Sergey Prokofiev in his Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Op. 74. The Eleventh Thesis is engraved in the entryway of Humboldt University on Unter den Linden in Berlin.
What is the contribution of Ludwig Feuerbach?
Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach. For a number of years in the mid-nineteenth century Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872) played an important role in the history of post-Hegelian German philosophy, and in the transition from idealism to various forms of naturalism, materialism and positivism that is one of the most notable developments of this period.
Who wrote the Theses on Feuerbach?
The most widely known version of the Theses is that based on Engels’ edited version, published as an appendix to his Ludwig Feuerbach in 1888, where he gave it the title Theses on Feuerbach;
What is the main defect of Feuerbach’s materialism?
The main defect of all hitherto-existing materialism — that of Feuerbach included — is that the Object [der Gegenstand], actuality, sensuousness, are conceived only in the form of the object [Objekts], or of contemplation [Anschauung], but not as human sensuous activity, practice [Praxis], not subjectively.