Theses on Feuerbach
{"WorkMasterId":6474,"WpPageId":282465,"ParentWpPageId":189644,"Slug":"marx-theses-on-feuerbach","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/karl-marx/marx-theses-on-feuerbach/","RelativeUrl":"theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/karl-marx/marx-theses-on-feuerbach/","HasFullText":true,"RawHtmlLength":81403,"CleanHtmlLength":24062,"Kicker":"Philosophy Work","Title":"Theses on Feuerbach","Deck":"Marx criticizes contemplative materialism and makes praxis central to truth, human essence, social life, and revolutionary transformation.","BackLink":{"Text":"Back to Karl Marx","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/karl-marx/"},"AuthorCard":{"Label":"Author","Title":"Karl Marx","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/karl-marx/","MediaHref":"","ImageSrc":"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/karl-marx-01-mayall-1875-standard-portrait.jpg","ImageAlt":"Karl Marx, Mayall portrait, 1875","FilterTerra":"Western Europe","ClickText":"Karl Marx","ClickHref":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/karl-marx/","Copies":["1818 CE – 1883 CE","Trier, Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia","German philosopher of historical materialism, alienation, class struggle, ideology critique, political economy, capitalism, communism, religion critique, and social transformation."]},"ContextCards":[{"Label":"Period","Key":"Period:4","Title":"Modern History","DateText":"1800 CE – 1944 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-modern-history/"},{"Label":"Era","Key":"Era:11","Title":"Long 19th Century","DateText":"1870 CE – 1913 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-modern-history/philosophers-of-the-long-19th-century/"},{"Label":"Composition","Title":"1845 CE","Url":"","DateText":""}],"DateNote":"Displayed as 1845 CE for the notes; later Engels publication and editing are documented in evidence notes.","GeoCards":[{"Label":"Region","Key":"Region:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita","Key":"TerraAvita:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita Region","Key":"TerraAvitaRegion:3"},{"Label":"Modern Country","Key":"Country:DEU:1"}],"OriginalTitle":"Thesen ueber Feuerbach","Language":"German / French / English","DisciplineCards":[{"Label":"Primary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:epistemology"},{"Label":"Secondary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:ethics"}],"Tradition":"Historical materialism / critique of political economy","FullText":{"Title":"Full Text","Copy":"Full text from Marxists Internet Archive: Theses on Feuerbach .","Url":"","Label":"","Kicker":"","Cards":[]},"CoreThesis":["Marx criticizes contemplative materialism and makes praxis central to truth, human essence, social life, and revolutionary transformation."],"Classification":{"AlternateTitles":"Theses on Feuerbach","KeyConcepts":"Feuerbach; praxis; materialism; truth; social life; human essence; revolution","Methodology":"Historical-materialist analysis, critique of political economy, dialectical critique, philosophical polemic, archival manuscript work, journalism, and social theory.","Structure":"The page records an approved Marx work with explicit year, source evidence, and visible coauthorship, manuscript, posthumous, or Engels-edited status where needed."},"Arguments":["Marx criticizes contemplative materialism and makes praxis central to truth, human essence, social life, and revolutionary transformation."],"Influence":{"InfluencedBy":"Hegel, Feuerbach, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Aristotle, Epicurus, French socialism, British political economy, and nineteenth-century revolutionary politics.","InfluenceOn":""},"Significance":["Included as one of the twenty-seven direct Karl Marx work pages approved for the Karl Marx full-process repair.","The work anchors Marx\u0027s continuing relevance for capitalism, labor, alienation, class, ideology, religion critique, political economy, state power, social transformation, and historical explanation."],"EvidenceNote":["Accepted through SEP/Feuerbach context, Marxists archive, and scholarship evidence; HasFullText remains false."],"MainSections":[{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Versions","BodyHtml":"\u003cdiv class=\"dz-philo__full-version-grid\"\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-version-card\"\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-provider\"\u003eMarxists Internet Archive\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ch3 class=\"dz-philo__full-version-title\"\u003eTheses on Feuerbach\u003c/h3\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-meta\"\u003eHtmlText · LinkOnlyReady\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ca class=\"dz-philo__full-version-link\" href=\"https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/index.htm\"\u003eOpen full version\u003c/a\u003e\n \u003c/article\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e"},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Core Thesis","Paragraphs":["Marx criticizes contemplative materialism and makes praxis central to truth, human essence, social life, and revolutionary transformation."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Classification","Fields":[{"Label":"Alternate Titles","Value":"Theses on Feuerbach"},{"Label":"Key Concepts","Value":"Feuerbach; praxis; materialism; truth; social life; human essence; revolution"},{"Label":"Methodology","Value":"Historical-materialist analysis, critique of political economy, dialectical critique, philosophical polemic, archival manuscript work, journalism, and social theory."},{"Label":"Structure","Value":"The page records an approved Marx work with explicit year, source evidence, and visible coauthorship, manuscript, posthumous, or Engels-edited status where needed."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Arguments","Paragraphs":["Marx criticizes contemplative materialism and makes praxis central to truth, human essence, social life, and revolutionary transformation."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Influence","Fields":[{"Label":"Influenced By","Value":"Hegel, Feuerbach, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Aristotle, Epicurus, French socialism, British political economy, and nineteenth-century revolutionary politics."},{"Label":"Influence On","Value":"Marxism, socialism, communism, critical theory, labor movements, political economy, sociology, social philosophy, philosophy of history, and twentieth-century continental thought."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Significance","Paragraphs":["Included as one of the twenty-seven direct Karl Marx work pages approved for the Karl Marx full-process repair.","The work anchors Marx\u0027s continuing relevance for capitalism, labor, alienation, class, ideology, religion critique, political economy, state power, social transformation, and historical explanation."]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Evidence Note","Paragraphs":["Accepted through SEP/Feuerbach context, Marxists archive, and scholarship evidence; HasFullText remains false."]},{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Text","BodyHtml":"\u003cp class=\"dz-philo__section-copy dz-philo__full-text-source\"\u003eFull text from \u003ca href=\"https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/index.htm\"\u003eMarxists Internet Archive: Theses on Feuerbach\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-text-body\"\u003e\n\u003ch1\u003eTheses On Feuerbach\u003c/h1\u003e\r\n\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\r\n\u003cspan\u003eWritten\u003c/span\u003e: by Marx in Brussels in the spring of 1845, under the title \u0026#8220;1) \u003cem\u003ead\u003c/em\u003e Feuerbach\u0026#8221;;\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMarx\u0026#8217;s original text was first published in 1924, in German and in Russian translation, by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in \u003cem\u003eMarx-Engels Archives, \u003c/em\u003eBook I, Moscow. The English translation was first published in the Lawrence and Wishart edition of \u003cem\u003eThe German Ideology\u003c/em\u003e\u0026#160; in 1938. \u003cbr\u003e\r\nThe most widely known version of the \u003ci\u003eTheses\u003c/i\u003e is that based on Engels\u0026#8217; edited version, published as an appendix to his \u003cem\u003eLudwig Feuerbach\u003c/em\u003e in 1888, where he gave it the title \u003cem\u003eTheses on Feuerbach\u003c/em\u003e;\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan\u003eTranslated\u003c/span\u003e: by Cyril Smith 2002, based on work done jointly with Don Cuckson.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003chr\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"001\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e1\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e The main defect of all hitherto-existing materialism \u0026#8212; that of Feuerbach included \u0026#8212; is that the Object \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eder Gegenstand\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e, actuality, sensuousness, are conceived only in the form of the object \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eObjekts\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e, or of contemplation \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eAnschauung\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e, but not as human sensuous activity, practice \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003ePraxis\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e, not subjectively. Hence it happened that the active side, in opposition to materialism, was developed by idealism \u0026#8212; but only abstractly, since, of course, idealism does not know real, sensuous activity as such. \u003ca name=\"002\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eFeuerbach wants sensuous objects \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eObjekte\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e, differentiated from thought-objects, but he does not conceive human activity itself as objective \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003egegenständliche\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e activity. In \u003cem\u003eThe Essence of Christianity\u003c/em\u003e \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eDas Wesen des Christenthums\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e, he therefore regards the theoretical attitude as the only genuinely human attitude, while practice \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003ePraxis\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e is conceived and defined only in its dirty-Jewish form of appearance \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eErscheinungsform\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003ca href=\"#jewish\"\u003e[1]\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e. Hence he does not grasp the significance of \u0026#8216;revolutionary\u0026#8217;, of \u0026#8216;practical-critical\u0026#8217;, activity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"003\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e2\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e The question whether objective truth can be attributed to human thinking is not a question of theory but is a \u003cSTRONG\u003epractical\u003c/STRONG\u003e question. Man must prove the truth, \u003cem\u003ei.e.\u003c/em\u003e, the reality and power, the this-sidedness \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eDiesseitigkeit\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e of his thinking, in practice. The dispute over the reality or non-reality of thinking which is isolated from practice is a purely scholastic question.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"004\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e3\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e The materialist doctrine that men are products of circumstances and upbringing, and that, therefore, changed men are products of changed circumstances and changed upbringing, forgets that it is men who change circumstances and that the educator must himself be educated. Hence this doctrine is bound to divide society into two parts, one of which is superior to society. \u003ca name=\"005\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eThe coincidence of the changing of circumstances and of human activity or self-change \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eSelbstveränderung\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e can be conceived and rationally understood only as \u003cSTRONG\u003erevolutionary practice\u003c/STRONG\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"006\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e4\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e Feuerbach starts off from the fact of religious self-estrangement \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eSelbstentfremdung\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e, of the duplication of the world into a religious, imaginary world, and a secular \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eweltliche\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e one. His work consists in resolving the religious world into its secular basis. He overlooks the fact that after completing this work, the chief thing still remains to be done. \u003ca name=\"007\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eFor the fact that the secular basis lifts off from itself and establishes itself in the clouds as an independent realm can only be explained by the inner strife and intrinsic contradictoriness of this secular basis. The latter must itself be understood in its contradiction and then, by the removal of the contradiction, revolutionised. Thus, for instance, once the earthly family is discovered to be the secret of the holy family, the former must itself be annihilated \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003evernichtet\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e theoretically and practically.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"008\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e5\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e Feuerbach, not satisfied with \u003cSTRONG\u003eabstract thinking\u003c/STRONG\u003e, wants \u003cSTRONG\u003esensuous contemplation\u003c/STRONG\u003e \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eAnschauung\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e; but he does not conceive sensuousness as \u003cSTRONG\u003epractical\u003c/STRONG\u003e, human-sensuous activity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"009\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e6\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e Feuerbach resolves the essence of religion into the essence of man \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003emenschliche Wesen\u003c/em\u003e = \u0026#8216;human nature\u0026#8217;]\u003c/span\u003e. But the essence of man is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. \u003ca name=\"010\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eIn reality, it is the ensemble of the social relations. \u003ca name=\"011\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eFeuerbach, who does not enter upon a criticism of this real essence is hence obliged: \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca name=\"012\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e1. To abstract from the historical process and to define the religious sentiment regarded by itself, and to presuppose an abstract \u0026#8212; isolated – human individual.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca name=\"013\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e2. The essence therefore can by him only be regarded as \u0026#8216;species\u0026#8217;, as an inner \u0026#8216;dumb\u0026#8217; generality which unites many individuals only in a \u003cSTRONG\u003enatural\u003c/STRONG\u003e way.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"014\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e7\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e Feuerbach consequently does not see that the \u0026#8216;religious sentiment\u0026#8217; is itself a \u003cSTRONG\u003esocial product\u003c/STRONG\u003e, and that the abstract individual that he analyses belongs in reality to a particular social form.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"015\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e8\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e All social life is essentially \u003cSTRONG\u003epractical\u003c/STRONG\u003e. All mysteries which lead theory to mysticism find their rational solution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"016\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e9\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e The highest point reached by contemplative \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003eanschauende\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e materialism, that is, materialism which does not comprehend sensuousness as practical activity, is the contemplation of single individuals and of civil society \u003cspan\u003e[\u003cem\u003ebürgerlichen Gesellschaft\u003c/em\u003e]\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"017\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e10\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e The standpoint of the old materialism is civil society; the standpoint of the new is human society or social humanity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026#160;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ca name=\"018\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003e11\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e Philosophers have hitherto only \u003ci\u003einterpreted\u003c/i\u003e the world in various ways; the point is to \u003ci\u003echange\u003c/i\u003e it.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026#160;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003chr\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca href=\"#002\" name=\"jewish\"\u003e1.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u0026#8220;Dirty-Jewish\u0026#8221; \u0026#8212; according to Marshall Berman, this is an allusion to the Jewish God of the Old Testament, who had to \u0026#8216;get his hands dirty\u0026#8217; making the world, tied up with a symbolic contrast between the Christian God of the Word, and the God of the Deed, symbolising practical life. See Feuerbach, \u003ca href=\"../../../../../reference/archive/feuerbach/works/essence/ec11.htm\"\u003eThe Significance of the Creation in Judaism\u003c/a\u003e, Essence of Christianity 1841\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026#160;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003chr\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\n\u003ca href=\"../../../../../deutsch/archiv/marx-engels/1845/thesen/thesfeue-or.htm\"\u003eDeutsch\u003c/a\u003e |\r\n\u003ca href=\"original.htm\"\u003e1938 translation of Marx\u0026#8217;s original\u003c/a\u003e | \r\n\u003ca href=\"theses.htm\"\u003e1969 Selected Works translation\u003c/a\u003e | \r\n\u003ca href=\"engels.htm\"\u003eEngels\u0026#8217; 1888 version\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/article\u003e"}],"SectionSequence":["Back Link","Work Title","Deck","Author","Period","Era","Composition","Date Note","Region","Terra Avita","Terra Avita Region","Modern Country","Original Title","Language","Primary Discipline","Secondary Discipline","Tradition","Full Versions","Core Thesis","Classification","Arguments","Influence","Significance","Evidence Note","Full Text"],"Counts":{"ContextCards":3,"GeoCards":4,"DisciplineCards":2,"Links":11,"Sections":25,"Styles":3,"Scripts":1}}