Feuerbach The Roots of Socialist Philosophy Friedrich Engels Austin Lewis 9781544963280 Books
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Feuerbach The Roots of Socialist Philosophy, was written by Friedrich Engels, (translated by Austin Lewis) and published in 1903. The work harks back to the 1848 democratic revolutions, which birthed the communist movement in Europe. In this volume Engels looks at Hegel and Feuerbach, and how dialectical materialism arose from these two writers. In the end appendix Engels affixes, Marx's eleven theses on Feuerbach, in which he famously said, "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it."
Feuerbach The Roots of Socialist Philosophy Friedrich Engels Austin Lewis 9781544963280 Books
Frederick Engel's purpose in Feuerbach: The Roots of Socialism is perfectly transparent. He attempts to show that Karl Marx, and not Ludwig Feuerbach, was the most important philosopher of materialism among the left Hegelians. While it is undoubtedly true that Marx's influence upon subsequent generations far exceeds that of Feuerbach's, Engel's cloying hagiolatry of Marx is often difficult to take: "Marx stood higher, saw further, took a wider, clearer, quicker survey than all of us. Marx was a genius, we others, at the best, talented."Anyone who has read Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity (Chapman's Quarterly Series) would be hard put to deny that Feuerbach was also a genius, and Engels does acknowledge that Feuerbach's principal work did restore materialism to philosophical respectability after the reign of Hegelian idealism. Engels even admits that Marx at first greeted the book "enthusiastically" in spite of his later reservations about it.
Engel's first swipe at Feuerbach concerns Feuerbach's conception of universal love, a conception which demonstrates that the exclusivity of Christian thought and affection bars it as a legitimate expression of universal love. It's important to realize that Feuerbach's discussion in the Essence of Christianity of universal love only makes that point. It aspired to nothing more, nor should it have given the purpose of the book. But Engel's, and presumably Marx as well, found Feuerbach's conception of love inadequate because it failed to include and was seen (somewhat paranoiacly, it seems) to compete with "the emancipation of the proletariat, through the economic transformation of production." How bizarre and irrelevant. The upshot of Engel's criticism is that Feuerbach's polemical purposes regarding Christianity in discussing universal love were not the same as Marx's political purposes. So what? Besides, nothing that Feuerbach says about universal love precludes or contradicts anything Marx said about social and economic forces and development. I suspect, however, that Engels knew that this criticism was little more than carping, so he devised another criticism of Feuerbach, one that goes for the jugular of Feuerbach's thesis.
According to Feuerbach, the subject matter of theism is constituted by human characteristics and potentialities that exist in individuals or in the human species as a whole. These characteristics and potentialities get expressed as desires and wishes that are projected (externalized) onto an imaginary being (a god), where humans can experience their subjectivity objectively (i.e. in the imaginary projected object). One obvious example of this wish fulfillment is the promise of immortality afforded by religion. I don't want my consciousness to cease so I conceive of a being capable of preserving my consciousness after death. But according to Engels, the very first conceptions of immortality "did not appear as a consolation, but as fate, against which a man cannot strive, and often enough, as among the Greeks, as a positive misfortune." This claim is, of course, poppycock, but the reader should note how it is necessary make such a ludicrous claim if one's intention is to undermine Feuerbach's essential thesis.
For his next salvo, Engel's essentially accuses Feuerbach of possessing a "shallow and vulgarized form" of materialism, one more befitting the mechanical models of the eighteenth century. The problem with this form of materialism is its "incapacity to represent the universe as a process, as one form of matter assumed in the course of evolutionary development." In short, Feuerbachian materialism was not Marxian dialectical materialism and that's an outrageous no-no.
This charge against Feuerbach is also nonsense. The Essence of Christianity is all about the dialectical development of Christian (and theistic) thought over time, often in ways that are not always salutatory. But the problem for Engels is that Feuerbach doesn't always (rarely, in fact) situate the development of theistic thought in the out-workings of large historical, social, and economical developments--importantly, as Marx does.
Engels admits that it might seem difficult (a bit of a strain, really) to situate the development of abstract and relatively recondite theological doctrines in the economic and social conditions of a given mode of production, but rest assured, he proclaims, such connections exist. That bit of assurance is necessary because Feuerbach can more readily account for abstract theological doctrines via his projection theory than Marx can through his brand of dialectical materialism. And that's the point. When it comes to the development of theistic thought and experience, Feuerbach's method seems less strained and more parsimonious than what would be afforded by a Marxian analysis. That's why Engels must berate Feuerbach.
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Feuerbach The Roots of Socialist Philosophy Friedrich Engels Austin Lewis 9781544963280 Books Reviews
To understand Marxist philosophy completely I do not think this is an essential read. Engels attempts to show those interested in the roots of socialism its links to past philosophers, mainly Feuerbach. It begins with a short examination of Hegel, then Engel reveals how religion plays a role in philosophy, it continues with Feuerbach's philosophy and concludes with Engel's materialistic philosophy and history of the world. Over all it is an informative body of work to read but once again I stress not essential to understanding socialism and Marxist philosophy.
This item is what it was represented to be, and I am most appreciative of the fact that I received what I paid for.
Frederick Engel's purpose in Feuerbach The Roots of Socialism is perfectly transparent. He attempts to show that Karl Marx, and not Ludwig Feuerbach, was the most important philosopher of materialism among the left Hegelians. While it is undoubtedly true that Marx's influence upon subsequent generations far exceeds that of Feuerbach's, Engel's cloying hagiolatry of Marx is often difficult to take "Marx stood higher, saw further, took a wider, clearer, quicker survey than all of us. Marx was a genius, we others, at the best, talented."
Anyone who has read Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity (Chapman's Quarterly Series) would be hard put to deny that Feuerbach was also a genius, and Engels does acknowledge that Feuerbach's principal work did restore materialism to philosophical respectability after the reign of Hegelian idealism. Engels even admits that Marx at first greeted the book "enthusiastically" in spite of his later reservations about it.
Engel's first swipe at Feuerbach concerns Feuerbach's conception of universal love, a conception which demonstrates that the exclusivity of Christian thought and affection bars it as a legitimate expression of universal love. It's important to realize that Feuerbach's discussion in the Essence of Christianity of universal love only makes that point. It aspired to nothing more, nor should it have given the purpose of the book. But Engel's, and presumably Marx as well, found Feuerbach's conception of love inadequate because it failed to include and was seen (somewhat paranoiacly, it seems) to compete with "the emancipation of the proletariat, through the economic transformation of production." How bizarre and irrelevant. The upshot of Engel's criticism is that Feuerbach's polemical purposes regarding Christianity in discussing universal love were not the same as Marx's political purposes. So what? Besides, nothing that Feuerbach says about universal love precludes or contradicts anything Marx said about social and economic forces and development. I suspect, however, that Engels knew that this criticism was little more than carping, so he devised another criticism of Feuerbach, one that goes for the jugular of Feuerbach's thesis.
According to Feuerbach, the subject matter of theism is constituted by human characteristics and potentialities that exist in individuals or in the human species as a whole. These characteristics and potentialities get expressed as desires and wishes that are projected (externalized) onto an imaginary being (a god), where humans can experience their subjectivity objectively (i.e. in the imaginary projected object). One obvious example of this wish fulfillment is the promise of immortality afforded by religion. I don't want my consciousness to cease so I conceive of a being capable of preserving my consciousness after death. But according to Engels, the very first conceptions of immortality "did not appear as a consolation, but as fate, against which a man cannot strive, and often enough, as among the Greeks, as a positive misfortune." This claim is, of course, poppycock, but the reader should note how it is necessary make such a ludicrous claim if one's intention is to undermine Feuerbach's essential thesis.
For his next salvo, Engel's essentially accuses Feuerbach of possessing a "shallow and vulgarized form" of materialism, one more befitting the mechanical models of the eighteenth century. The problem with this form of materialism is its "incapacity to represent the universe as a process, as one form of matter assumed in the course of evolutionary development." In short, Feuerbachian materialism was not Marxian dialectical materialism and that's an outrageous no-no.
This charge against Feuerbach is also nonsense. The Essence of Christianity is all about the dialectical development of Christian (and theistic) thought over time, often in ways that are not always salutatory. But the problem for Engels is that Feuerbach doesn't always (rarely, in fact) situate the development of theistic thought in the out-workings of large historical, social, and economical developments--importantly, as Marx does.
Engels admits that it might seem difficult (a bit of a strain, really) to situate the development of abstract and relatively recondite theological doctrines in the economic and social conditions of a given mode of production, but rest assured, he proclaims, such connections exist. That bit of assurance is necessary because Feuerbach can more readily account for abstract theological doctrines via his projection theory than Marx can through his brand of dialectical materialism. And that's the point. When it comes to the development of theistic thought and experience, Feuerbach's method seems less strained and more parsimonious than what would be afforded by a Marxian analysis. That's why Engels must berate Feuerbach.
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