Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy

Abbreviated as On Feuerbach. An important work by Engels systematically elaborating the fundamental principles of Marxist philosophy. Written in early 1886, first published in Die Neue Zeit. In 1888, Engels revised it and wrote a preface to it, then published a single edition. First published by Lin Chaozhen in Religion, Philosophy and Socialism, published by the Shanghai Hubin Bookstore in October 1929.

In the 1880s, Marxism was widely disseminated among workers and greatly propelled the development of the workers’ movement. Under these circumstances, by distorting the relationship between Marxist philosophy and the classical German philosophy the bourgeoisie attempted to cause ideological confusion within the workers’ movement, distort Marxism at the ideological and theoretical level, and achieve the goal of disintegrating the workers’ movement. Meanwhile, when Marx and Engels founded Marxist philosophy, they wanted to clarify the relationship between Marxist philosophy and classical German philosophy, but shelved it for various reasons. Consequently, Engels used the opportunity of reviewing the Danish philosopher Starcke’s book, Ludwig Feuerbach, to write this work.

The full text of the work consists of four parts: a foreword, the main text, a conclusion and an appendix. The main contents are:

First, it elaborated the relationship between Marxist philosophy and classical German philosophy. Engels first made a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of classical German philosophy. As for Hegelian philosophy, Engels considered it to be the ideology and world outlook of the German bourgeoisie, both revolutionary and conservative. Hegel’s idea of dialectics embodied a revolutionary character, dealing a fatal blow to the finality of all product of human thought and action, and depicting the world as a process of constant movement, change and development. However, Hegel’s idea of dialectics was established on the basis of idealism. The contradiction between dialectics and idealism in Hegel’s philosophical thought was precisely the philosophical reflection of the duality of the German bourgeoisie. Therefore, Hegelian philosophy inevitably disintegrated. Engels held that in this process Feuerbach correctly criticized Hegelian idealist system, but erroneously completely abandoned dialectics and became an inconsistent materialist. However, Feuerbach’s philosophy has become a transition from Hegelian philosophy to Marxist philosophy. Next, Engels critically inherited the important content of Hegel’s idealist dialectics, assimilated the basic viewpoints of Feuerbach’s materialism, and further elaborated the thought of dialectical outlook on development. Engels pointed out that all things are constantly developing and changing, and the general trend of development is advancing and rising; subjective dialectics is the dialectics of thinking and the reflection of objective dialectics; in the process of development of things, movement is absolute, while stillness is relative. It is a revolutionary change that distinguishes Marxist philosophy from metaphysics, idealism and relativism. “Thus, dialectics reduced itself to the science of the general laws of movement, both of the external world and of human thought.”

Second, it clearly put forth and elaborated the basic question of philosophy. In the work, Engels first put forth and expounded on the basic question of philosophy. He believed: “The great basic question of all philosophy, especially of more recent philosophy, is that concerning the relation of thinking and being.” Their relationship is manifested in two aspects: first, which is original, thinking or being. With regard to their response to this question, philosophers can be divided into materialist school and idealist school according to their different answers. In other words, this is the standard for distinguishing between materialism and idealism. Second, the question whether thinking can correctly reflect the reality. In other words, it is the question of the identity of thinking and being. With regard to the recognition of the content of this aspect, in the history of philosophy, the vast majority of philosophers were gnostics, i.e., they acknowledged the identity of thinking and being, while a minority of philosophers belonged to agnostics, i.e., they denied the identity of thinking and being. In this regard, Engels criticized agnosticism from the point of view of the history of natural sciences and productive practice.

Third, it exposed the limitations of 18th-century materialism and criticized Feuerbach’s idealist view on the philosophy of religion and ethics. Engels held that Feuerbach became an inconsistent materialist because of the influence of 18th-century materialism. Because the 18th-century materialism had its limitations, embodied in: first, mechanism, i.e., under the impact of the development of mechanical mechanics, people attempted to explain all phenomena with this theory and reduced all forms of motion into mechanical motion; second, metaphysics, i.e., the 18th-century materialism always held an isolated, static and one-sided view when looking at and analyzing the world; third, idealism in the conception of history. On this basis, Engels criticized Feuerbach in the philosophy of religion for speaking of human history as the history of religious changes and the idealistic view that religious changes determine the development of history, and explicitly pointed out that the development of history determines the religious changes. At the same time, Engels also criticized Feuerbach’s ethical idealism, pointing out that all moral principles are constantly changing with the development of society and history, and that morality has a class character.

Fourth, it expounded on the natural-scientific foundation for the rise of Marxist philosophy, clarified the consistency and difference between the dialectical-materialist conception of nature and of the history of society, and exhaustively elaborated the fundamental theories of historical materialism. First, Engels clarified the role of the development of natural sciences, especially of the three major discoveries in the sphere of natural science in the mid-19th century, in the formation of the dialectical-materialist conception of nature and of history, and he pointed out that “with each epoch-making discovery even in the sphere of natural science, it has to change its form”. Second, Engels clarified the consistency between the dialectical-materialist conception of nature and of the history of society, and also discussed the characteristics of the history of the development of society different from that of nature, pointing out that “in the history of society, the actors are all endowed with consciousness, are men acting with deliberation or passion, working towards definite goals; nothing happens without a conscious purposes, without an intended aim”; the different characteristics of the history of the development of society and that of nature “cannot alter the fact that the course of history is governed by inner general laws”; “where on the surface accident holds sway, there actually it is always governed by inner, hidden laws, and it is only a matter of discovering these laws.” Third, Engels exhaustively elaborated on the fundamental theories of historical materialism. On the basis of grasping the characteristics of social and historical development, Engels summarized the driving forces of development of human society. Its content includes that the masses are the fundamental driving force of the development of the history of society, while class struggle is the immediate driving force of the development of class society. In addition, Engels also discussed the fundamental principle that economic base determines superstructure. He held that He held that the will of the state or the law belongs to the political superstructure and is determined by the economic base, i.e., “in modern history the will of the state is, on the whole, determined by the changing needs of civil society, but the supremacy of this or that class, in the last resort, by the development of the productive forces and relations of exchange”, and that the private law, religion and philosophy of a country are also determined by the economic base, while the (public and private) law of a country, religion and philosophy have a relatively independence, and exert a counter-acting influence upon the economic base.

Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy is a great work by Engels elaborating the relationship between Marxist philosophy and classical German philosophy and systematically expounding the fundamental principles of Marxist philosophy. Its publication defended Marxist theory, responded to the attacks of the bourgeoisie and became the ideological weapon of the working class and its parties. Lenin once evaluated it as “a handbook for every class-conscious worker”, and Plekhanov also held that it was “as full as possible a summary of the philosophical views of the two thinkers”.