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---------- ,transcriber's note3         
,obvious typographical errors have been 
corrected4                              
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----------   ,,feuerbach  ,,the ,,roots 
,,of ,,the ,,socialist ,,philosophy     
,,by ,,frederick ,,engels  ,,translated 
,,with ,,critical ,,introduction ,,by   
,,austin ,,lewis  ,,chicago ,,charles   
,h4 ,,kerr  ,,company   ,copyright1     
#aijc  ,by ,,charles ,h4 ,,kerr         
,,company     ,,introduction4   ,this   
work takes us back nearly sixty years1  
to a time when what is now a movement of
 universal significance was in its      
infancy4 ,hegel and the ,revolution of  
#ahdh2 these are the points of          
departure4 ,to the former1 we owe the   
philosophic form of the socialist       
doctrine1 to the latter1 its practical  
activity as a movement4  ,in the midst  
of the turmoil and strife and apparent  
defeat of those days two men1 ,marx and 
,engels1 exiled and without influence1  

betook themselves to their books and    
began laboriously to fashion the form   
and doctrine of the most powerful       
intellectual and political movement of  
all time4 ,to the task they brought     
genius1 scholarship1 and a capacity for 
hard work and patient research4 ,in each
 of these qualities they were supreme4  
,marx possessed a colossal mind2 no     
thinker upon social subjects1 not even  
,herbert ,spencer1 has been his         
superior1 for the lonely socialist could
 claim a comprehensiveness1 a grasp of  
relations and a power of generalization1
 together with a boldness of conception1
 which place him in a class by himself4 
,engels was the able co-adjutor and     
co-worker with ,marx4 ,he was a deep and
 acute thinker1 a most patient          
investigator1 a careful writer4 ,more   
practical than his friend1 he was better
 able to cope with material problems1   
and his advice and his purse were always
 at the disposal of ,marx4  ,the latter 
could hardly have worked under more     

discouraging conditions4 ,poverty1      
inadequate opportunities1 lack of       
stimulating companionship1 and the      
complete absence of any kind of         
encouragement and such sympathy as a man
 of his affectionate temperament craved 
fell to his lot4 ,his most learned works
 were written for groups of workingmen1 
his most laborious efforts were made    
without the slightest hope of           
recognition from the learned and the    
powerful4  ,all through these years     
,engels remained his faithful friend1   
and helped him over many hard places    
when family troubles and straitened     
circumstances pressed upon the old      
revolutionist4  ,this work is ,engels'  
testimony with regard to the method     
employed by them in arriving at their   
philosophical conclusions4 ,it is the   
statement of the philosophical          
foundations of modern socialism by one  
who helped to lay them2 it is an old    
man's account of the case upon the      
preparation of which he has spent his   

entire life1 for1 this work1 short as it
 is1 represents the results of forty    
years of toil and persevering effort4   
,as the ,communist ,manifesto was a gage
 flung with all the impetuosity of      
youthful impatience into the face of    
constituted authority1 so this is the   
deliberate statement of the veteran1 who
 has learned the game too well to leave 
any openings1 and proceeds to the       
demolition of pet opinions in a quiet1  
deadly and deliberate fashion4  ,step by
 step1 the argument is built up4 ,the   
ghosts of old controversies long since  
buried are raised1 to show how the      
doctrine imperishably associated with   
the names of ,marx and ,engels came into
 existence2 the ,young ,hegelians1 the  
,tuebingen ,school1 and finally         
,feuerbach himself are summoned from the
 grave to which the ,revolution of #ahdh
 had consigned them4 ,still1 ancient    
history as these controversies are from 
the ,german standpoint1 such is the     
backwardness of philosophy among        

,english-speaking peoples1 that we find 
,engels exposing again and again        
fallacies which persist even in our     
time1 and ridiculing sentiments which we
 receive with approbation in our        
political assemblies1 and with mute     
approval in our churches and            
conventicles4  ,the anti-religious note 
is noticeable throughout1 in itself an  
echo of controversies long past1 when   
the arguments of the critics of the     
,bible were creating now fury1 now      
dismay1 throughout ,christendom1 before 
the ,higher ,criticism had become       
respected1 and before soi-disant        
sceptics could continue to go solemnly  
to church4  ,moreover1 the work was     
written in ,german for ,german workmen  
for whom religion has not the same      
significance as it apparently still     
continues to possess for the            
,english-speaking people1 whose         
sensitiveness upon the subject appears  
to have outlived their faith4 ,however  
that may be1 religious bodies possess a 

curious and perhaps satisfactory faculty
 of absorbing the truths of science1 and
 still continuing to exist1 and even to 
thrive1 upon what the inexperienced     
might easily mistake for a deadly diet4 
,under the circumstances there is no    
reason why ,engels' remarks should      
affect even the timorous1 although it   
must be remembered that a very able     
,english socialist philosopher is       
reputed to have damaged his chances     
irretrievably by an ill-judged quotation
 from ,mr4 ,swinburne4  ,it must be     
confessed that the occasional bitterness
 in which ,engels indulges is to be     
deplored1 in a work of so essentially   
intellectual a character1 but it is     
little to be wondered at4 ,his contempt 
for university professors and the       
pretentious cultivated classes1 who     
claim so much upon such slight grounds1 
is not strange1 when we consider the    
honest labors of himself and his        
colleagues and the superficial          
place-hunting of the recognized savants4

 ,he loves learning for its own sake1   
for the sake of truth and scientific    
accuracy1 and he cannot feel anything   
but scorn for those who use it as a     
means to lull the consciences of the    
rich1 and to gain place and power for   
themselves4 ,the degradation of ,german 
philosophy affects him with a real      
sorrow2 the scholar is outraged at the  
mockery4 ,sterility1 eclecticism1 these 
are the terms in which he sums up the   
teachings of the official professors1   
and they are almost too gentle to be    
applied to the dispiriting and          
disheartening doctrines which are taught
 to the ,english-speaking student of    
to-day under the name of economics or   
philosophy4   ,in the first part of his 
pamphlet1 for it is little more in size1
 ,engels gives a short and concise      
account of the work of ,hegel and the   
later ,hegelian ,school4 ,he shows how  
the philosophy of ,hegel has both a     
conservative and a radical side and how 
conservatives and radicals alike might1 

7as a matter of fact they did71 each    
derive support from his teachings1      
according to the amount of stress laid  
respectively upon the great divisions of
 his work1 the ,system and the          
,dialectic4  ,the ,extreme ,left        
developed through the application of the
 dialectic1 and applied the philosophic 
doctrine thus derived to the criticism  
of existing political and religious     
institutions4 ,this resulted in the     
gradual throwing away of the abstract   
part of the ,hegelian philosophy1 and in
 the study of facts and phenomena to an 
ever-increasing degree4  ,marx had1 in  
his youth1 allied himself with the      
,young ,hegelians1 as this school was   
called1 and this fact had no slight     
influence upon his subsequent career4   
,his critics lay the blame for much of  
the obscurity of language from which    
,capital in particular suffers1 at the  
door of this training4 ,his painful     
elaboration of thesis1 antithesis1 and  
synthesis1 his insistence upon the      

dialectic1 and his continual use of the 
,hegelian philosophical expressions are 
due to his earlier controversial        
experiences4 ,still1 on the other hand1 
his patient investigation of actual     
facts1 his insistence on the value of   
positive knowledge as compared with     
abstract theory1 and his diligent and   
persistent use of blue-books and        
statistics1 were in a great measure     
results of the same training4  ,now and 
again1 we find ,engels in this work     
displaying remarkable controversial     
acumen1 as in his discussion of the     
phrase1 ,all that is real is reasonable1
 and all that is reasonable is real     
7,alles was wirklich ist1 ist           
vernuenftig1 und alles was vernuenftig  
ist1 ist wirklich74 ,from this          
expression1 by the development of the   
,hegelian argument1 he arrives at the   
conclusion involved in the statement    
that the value of a social or political 
phenomenon is its transitoriness1 the   
necessity of its disappearance4 ,hence  

the abolition of dogmatic statement and 
mere subjective reasoning in the realm  
of philosophy1 the destruction of the   
old school of which ,kant was the chief 
exponent1 and the creation of a new     
school the most advanced teachers of    
which were1 as they still are1 the      
materialistic socialists1 of whom       
,engels and ,marx are the chief4  ,the  
object of this historical sketch is to  
show the origin of ,feuerbach's         
philosophy as well as of that of ,marx  
and ,engels4 ,as the fight between the  
,young ,hegelians and the conservatives 
grew hotter1 the radicals were driven   
back upon the ,english-,french          
materialism of the preceding century4   
,this was embarrassing for followers of 
,hegel1 who had been taught to regard   
the material as the mere expression of  
the ,idea4 ,feuerbach relieved them from
 the contradiction4 ,he grasped the     
question boldly and threw the ,hegelian 
abstraction completely to one side4 ,his
 book1 ,wesen des ,christenthums1 in    

which his ideas were set forth1 became  
immediately popular1 and an ,english    
translation1 which was widely read1 was 
made of it by ,george ,eliot under the  
title of ,essence of ,christianity4     
,engels is by no means grudging of      
expressions of appreciation with regard 
to this work1 and its effects both upon 
himself and the educated world in       
general4 ,this unendurable debt of honor
 paid1 however1 he proceeds to attack   
the idealistic humanitarianism which    
,feuerbach had made the basis and       
sanction of his ethical theories4       
,although ,feuerbach had arrived at the 
materialistic conclusion1 he expressed  
himself as unable to accept materialism 
as a doctrine4 ,he says that as far as  
the past is concerned he is a           
materialist1 but1 for the future1 he is 
not so--,backward ,i am in agreement    
with the materialists1 forward not--a   
statement which impels ,engels to       
examine the materialism of the          
eighteenth century1 which he finds      

purely mechanical1 without any          
conception of the universe as a process1
 and therefore utterly inadequate for   
the philosophic needs of the period at  
which ,feuerbach wrote2 for by that time
 the advance of science1 and the greater
 powers of generalization1 arising from 
patient experimentation1 and the        
development of the evolutionary theory1 
had rendered the eighteenth century     
views evidently absurd4  ,the           
vulgarising peddlers 7vulgarisirenden   
,hausirer7 come in for a great deal of  
contempt at the hands of ,engels4 ,these
 were the popular materialists--the     
blatant atheists1 who1 without          
scientific knowledge and gifted with    
mere oratory or a popular style of      
writing1 used every advance of science  
as a weapon of attack upon the ,creator 
and popular religion4 ,engels sneers at 
these as not being scientists at all1   
but mere tradesmen dealing in           
pseudo-scientific wares4 ,he calls their
 occupation a trade1 a business         

7,geschaeft74 ,of the same class was    
that host of secularist lecturers who at
 one time thronged the lecture platforms
 of the ,english-speaking countries and 
of whom ,bradlaugh and ,ingersoll were  
in every way the best representatives4  
,these secularists have now ceased to   
exercise any influence1 and the         
,freethought societies1 at one time so  
numerous1 have now practically          
disappeared4 ,in accordance with the    
theories as set forth by ,engels they   
were bound to disappear2 their teachings
 had no real bearing upon social        
progress1 they contributed nothing of   
any scientific value to modern thought1 
and as ,engels carefully shows1 the     
reading of history by these lecturers   
was vitiated by a lack of scientific    
grasp1 and inability to take a rational 
view of the great principles of         
historical development4  ,in the third  
part of this little book ,engels deals  
with a very interesting question which  
still disturbs the minds of             

philosophers1 and concerning which much 
discussion goes on even among the       
materialists2 that is the question as to
 the effect of religion upon social     
progress4 ,feuerbach had made the       
statement that periods of social        
progress are marked by religious        
changes4 ,he uses religion as a synonym 
for human love1 forcing the meaning of  
the word religion from the ,latin       
religare1 to tie1 in order to give it an
 etymological and derivative meaning in 
support of his statement1 a             
controversial trick for which he is     
rebuked by ,engels4 ,the declaration    
that great historical revolutions are   
accompanied by religious changes is     
declared by ,engels not to be true1     
except in a limited degree as regards   
the three great                         
world-religions--,christianity1         
,mahommedanism and ,buddhism4  ,engels  
declared that the change in religion    
simultaneous with economic and political
 revolution stopped short with the      

bourgeois revolt which was made without 
any appeal to religion whatsoever4 ,it  
is evident that this is not entirely    
true1 for in the ,english-speaking      
countries1 at all events1 not only the  
bourgeois but frequently also the       
proletarian movements attempt to justify
 themselves from ,scripture4 ,the       
teachings of the ,bible and the ,sermon 
on the ,mount are frequently called to  
the aid of the revolutionary party2     
,christian ,socialists1 in the ,english 
and ,american1 not the continental sense
 of the term1 as such are admitted to   
the ,international ,congresses2 and     
other evidences of the compatibility of 
religion with the proletarian movement  
can be traced4  ,but in the broader     
sense of his statement ,engels is       
undoubtedly correct4 ,the proletarian   
movement1 unlike that of the bourgeois1 
has produced no definite religious      
school1 it has not claimed any          
particular set of religious doctrines as
 its own4 ,as a matter of fact1 there   

appears to be an ever-widening chasm    
between the ,church and the laborer1 a  
condition of affairs which is frequently
 deplored in religious papers4 ,the     
famous ,papal ,encyclical on ,labor was 
certainly intended to retain the masses 
in the ,church1 and the formation of    
trades unions under the influence of the
 priests was a logical conclusion from  
the teachings of the ,papal ,encyclical4
 ,but such religious movements are in no
 sense representative of the            
working-class movement2 in fact they are
 resented and antagonized by the regular
 proletarian movement which proceeds    
under the leadership of the ,socialists4
  ,feuerbach's exaltation of            
humanitarianism1 as a religion1 is      
derided by ,engels in a semi-jocular1   
semi-serious manner1 for his statement  
that ,feuerbach's ideals can be         
completely realized on the ,bourse1     
cannot be taken seriously4 ,engels'     
clear-sightedness with regard to the    
ineffectiveness of a purely humanitarian

 religion is very remarkable1 although  
the forty years' additional experience  
which he had over ,feuerbach was a great
 advantage to him in estimating the     
actual value of humanitarian religion as
 an influence in human affairs4 ,since  
the time of ,feuerbach various          
experiments in the direction of a       
religion based entirely on ,love have   
been tried1 and none of them has        
succeeded4 ,positivism or its religious 
side has been a failure4 ,it has        
appealed to a small set of men1 some of 
whom are possessed of great ability and 
have accomplished much1 but as a        
religion in any adequate sense of the   
word positivism will be admitted a      
failure by its most sincere adherents4  
,brotherhood ,churches1 the ,church of  
,humanity1 the ,people's ,church1 and   
other like organizations have been      
formed having the same humanitarian     
basis1 professing to cultivate a maximum
 of love with a minimum of faith1 and   
have failed to impress ordinary men and 

women4 ,theosophy1 a system of oriental 
mysticism based on an abstract          
conception of the brotherhood of man1   
has also put forth its claims to notice1
 on the grounds of its broad            
humanitarianism4 ,none of these         
humanitarian religions1 however1 appear 
to satisfy the needs of the times1 which
 do not seem to demand any humanitarian 
teachings4 ,the only religions which    
evidently persist are the dogmatic1     
those appealing undisguisedly to faith1 
and even these do not maintain their    
proletarian following4  ,engels' remarks
 appear to be more than justified by the
 facts of to-day1 for so far from the   
proletarian forming a new religion      
representing his needs on the           
ideological field1 he appears to be     
increasingly desirous of releasing      
himself from the bands of any religion  
whatever1 and substituting in place of  
it practical ethics and the teachings of
 science4 ,thus we are informed that    
five out of six of the working classes  

of ,berlin1 who attend any ,sunday      
meetings whatever1 are to be found in   
the halls of the ,social ,democratic    
,party1 listening to the lectures       
provided by that organization4  ,the    
revolutionary character of ,feuerbach's 
philosophy is not maintained in his     
ethic1 which ,engels declares with much 
truth to be no better than that of his  
predecessors1 as the basis on which it  
stands is no more substantial4          
,feuerbach fails as a teacher of        
practical ethics2 he is smothered in    
abstraction and cannot attain to any    
reality4  ,with the last part of the    
work ,engels abandons the task of       
criticising ,feuerbach1 and proceeds to 
expound his own philosophy4  ,with      
absolute candor and modesty he gives    
,marx credit for the theory of the      
materialistic conception of history1    
upon the enunciation and proof of which 
he had himself worked almost incessantly
 ever since the first idea of the theory
 had occurred to them1 forty years prior

 to the time when he wrote this work4   
,the footnote to the first page of the  
fourth part is the testimony of a       
collaborator to the genius of his       
fellow-workman1 an example of           
appreciation and modest self-effacement 
which it would not be easy to match1 and
 to which literary men who work together
 are not over-prone4 ,nothing else could
 bear more eloquent testimony to the    
loftiness of character and sincerity of 
purpose of these two exiles4  ,the      
,marxian philosophy of history is       
clearly stated1 and so fully explained  
by ,engels that there is no need to go  
over the ground again1 and there only   
remains to call attention to some of the
 modern developments in the direction of
 rigidity of interpretation1 and to the 
exaggeration of the broad theory of the 
predominance of the economic factor into
 a hard and fast doctrine of economic   
determinism4  ,when we examine the      
claims of ,engels on behalf of the      
materialistic doctrine it will be found 

that they are not by any means of such a
 nature as to warrant the extreme       
conclusions of subsequent socialist     
publicists and leaders4 ,it must be     
remembered that the subject of the      
influence of economic conditions on     
religious and political phenomena has   
been closely examined of late years and 
continual and accumulating evidence has 
been forthcoming respecting the         
remarkable influence of economic facts  
upon all other manifestations of social 
activity4 ,it is very probable that the 
successful investigations in this new   
field have led1 temporarily1 to the     
formation of exaggerated ideas as to the
 actual value of the economic factor4   
,marx1 in one of his short critical     
notes on ,feuerbach1 says3 ,the         
materialistic doctrine that men are     
products of conditions and education1   
different men therefore products of     
other conditions1 and a different kind  
of education1 forgets that circumstances
 may be altered by man and that the     

educator has himself to be educated4 ,in
 other words1 the problem1 like all     
problems1 possesses at least two        
quantities2 it is not a question solely 
of conditions1 economic or otherwise2 it
 is a question of man and conditions1   
for the man is never dissolved in the   
conditions1 but exists as a separate    
entity1 and these two elements1 man and 
conditions1 act and react the one upon  
the other4  ,this is quite a different  
position from that taken by ,lafargue in
 his fight with ,jaures4 ,lafargue there
 argued that economic development is the
 sole determinant of progress1 and      
pronounces in favor of economic         
determinism1 thus reducing the whole of 
history and1 consequently1 the          
dominating human motives to but one     
elementary motive4 ,belfort ,bax1 the   
well-known ,english socialist writer1   
makes a very clever argument against the
 determinist position by comparing it   
with the attempts of the pre-,socratic  
,greek philosophers to reduce nature to 

one element4 ,his remarks are so        
pertinent that a brief abstract of his  
argument is here quoted in his own      
language4 ,he says in ,outlooks from a  
,new ,standpoint3  ,the endeavor to     
reduce the whole of ,human life to one  
element alone1 to reconstruct all       
history on the basis of ,economics1 as  
already said1 ignores the fact that     
every concrete reality must have a      
material and a formal side1--that is1 it
 must have at least two ultimate        
elements--all reality as opposed to     
abstraction consisting in a synthesis4  
,the attempt to evolve the              
many-sidedness of ,human life out of one
 of its factors1 no matter how important
 that factor may be1 reminds one of the 
attempts of the early pre-,socratic     
,greeks to reduce nature to one element1
 such as water1 air1 fire1 etc4  ,and   
again3  ,the precise form a movement    
takes1 be it intellectual1 ethical or   
artistic1 ,i fully admit1 is determined 
by the material circumstances of the    

society in which it acquires form and   
shape1 but it is also determined by     
those fundamental psychological         
tendencies which have given it birth4   
,enrico ,ferri1 the famous ,italian     
member of the ,chamber of ,deputies and 
criminologist1 appears to be at one with
 ,bax in this matter4 ,he says1 quoting 
from a recent translation of his        
,socialism and ,modern ,science3 ,it is 
perfectly true that every phenomenon as 
well as every institution--moral1       
juridicial or political--is simply the  
result of the economic phenomena and the
 conditions of the transitory1 physical 
and historical environments4 ,but as a  
consequence of that law of natural      
causality which tells us that every     
effect is always the resultant of       
numerous concurrent causes1 and not of  
one cause alone1 and that every effect  
becomes in its turn a cause of other    
phenomena1 it is necessary to amend and 
complete the too rigid form that has    
been given to this true idea4  ,just as 

all psychical manifestations of the     
individual are the result of the organic
 conditions 7temperament7 and of the    
environment in which he lives1 in the   
same way1 all the social manifestations 
of a people are the resultant of their  
organic conditions 7race7 and of the    
environment1 as these are the           
determining causes of the given economic
 organization which is the physical     
basis of life4  ,these may be said to be
 fairly representative of the views of  
the opposition to the extreme of        
economic determinism4  ,the whole       
controversy has spread over a tremendous
 amount of ground and involves much     
reading4 ,some of the chief results have
 lately been summarized by ,professor   
,seligman in his ,economic              
,interpretation of ,history4            
7,macmillan1 #aijb47 ,his written views 
show a closer approximation to and      
understanding of the teachings of the   
socialist philosophy on this subject    
than we have been accustomed to receive 

at the hands of official savants1 so    
that it would seem as if the value of   
,marx's work was at last beginning to be
 appreciated even in the foggy studies  
of the professors4 ,two extracts from   
the writings of ,engels are quoted by   
,professor ,seligman4 ,these extracts   
apparently go to prove that ,engels by  
no means contemplated the extreme       
construction which has been placed upon 
the doctrine1 and that he would find    
such a construction inconsistent with   
his general views4  ,these extracts are 
quoted here for the purpose of further  
elucidating the views of ,engels and as 
further explanatory of the position     
assumed by him in the last part of the  
work under consideration4  ,they form   
part of a series of articles written for
 the ,sozialistische ,akademiker in     
#ahij1 and are as follows3  ,marx and ,i
 are partly responsible for the fact    
that the younger men have sometimes laid
 more stress on the economic side than  
it deserves4 ,in meeting the attacks of 

our opponents it was necessary for us to
 emphasize the dominant principle denied
 by them1 and we did not always have the
 time1 place1 or opportunity to let the 
other factors which were concerned in   
the mutual action and reaction get their
 deserts4  ,and in another letter to the
 same magazine he says3 ,according to   
the materialistic view of history1 the  
factor which is1 in last instance1      
decisive in history is the production   
and reproduction of actual life4 ,more  
than this neither ,marx nor ,i have ever
 asserted4 ,but when anyone distorts    
this so as to read that the economic    
factor is the sole element he converts  
the statement into a meaningless1       
abstract1 absurd phrase4 ,the economic  
condition is the basis1 but the various 
elements of the superstructure--the     
political forms of the class-contests1  
and their results1 the                  
constitutions--the legal forms and also 
all the reflexes of these actual        
contests in the brains of the           

participants1 the political1 legal1     
philosophical theories1 the religions   
views--all these exert an influence on  
the development of the historical       
struggles1 and in many instances        
determine their form4  ,here we may     
leave this much disputed matter for the 
present1 as any involved discussion of  
controversial questions would be out of 
place here4 ,the question in its        
ultimate form is merely scholastic1 for 
not even the most extreme determinist   
would hold that only the economic       
argument must be relied upon by the     
orators and the press of the proletarian
 movement4 ,any one1 however1 who wishes
 to pursue the subject farther can find 
abundant material in the already great  
and growing amount of literature in     
connection with it4  ,there is no doubt 
that the ideas of ,marx respecting the  
basis of historical progress have       
already revolutionized the teaching of  
history in the universities1 although   
but few professors have been honest     

enough to give him credit for it4 ,the  
economic factor continually acquires    
greater importance in the eyes of the   
student of history1 but the practical   
discoverer of this factor is still      
slighted and the results of his labors  
are assimilated with a self-satisfied   
hypocrisy which is1 unfortunately1      
characteristic of the colleges of the   
,english-speaking countries4  ,the      
bourgeois writers upon socialism        
generally content themselves with the   
bold statement that ,marx employs the   
dialectic method of investigation and   
statement4 ,this is so much ,greek to   
the ordinary reader1 and the subject of 
the dialectic as used by socialist      
writers requires a few words of         
explanation4  ,the first part of this   
work is very valuable1 therefore1 as    
showing what ,marx and ,engels meant    
when they used the expression1 and as   
declaring their estimation of that      
method compared with that in general use
 in their day1 and always1 prior to     

their time1 employed in philosophy1     
history and economics4  ,a fuller and   
more detailed definition of the         
dialectic as applied by ,engels is given
 by that philosopher in his famous reply
 to ,eugene ,duhring known as the       
,umwaelzung der ,wissenschaft4 ,in that 
work a more thorough and patient        
investigation is made into the sources  
of materialistic philosophy of the      
socialist movement1 for the reputation  
of his antagonist appears to have acted 
as a spur to ,engels' faculties which   
certainly never showed to better        
advantage than in that work4 ,a portion 
of the argument1 in fact an abstract of 
the general train of reasoning1 with the
 omission of the more obviously         
controversial parts1 has been reprinted 
under the title of ,socialism from      
,utopia to ,science4 ,the following     
quotation is taken from the translation 
prepared for the ,people in #ahib3  ,we 
also find1 upon a closer enquiry1 that  
the two poles of an antithesis1 such as 

positive and negative1 are as           
inseparable from as they are opposed to 
each other1 and that1 despite their     
antagonism1 they mutually pervade each  
other2 and in the same way we find cause
 and effect to be conceptions whose     
force exists only when applied to a     
single instance1 but which1 soon as we  
consider that instance in its connection
 with the cosmos1 run into each other   
and dissolve in the contemplation of    
that universal action and reaction where
 cause and effect constantly change     
places--that which is effect1 now and   
here1 becoming1 then and yonder1 cause1 
and vice versa4  ,none of these         
processes and methods of reasoning fits 
in the metaphysical framework of        
thought4 ,to dialectics1 however1 which 
takes in the objects and their          
conceivable images above all in their   
connections1 their sequence1 their      
motion1 their rise and decline1         
processes like the above are so many    
attestations of its own method of       

procedure4 ,nature furnishes the test to
 dialectics1 and this much we must say  
for modern natural science1 that it has 
contributed towards this test an        
extremely rich and daily increasing     
material1 whereby it has demonstrated   
that1 in the last instance1 nature      
proceeds upon dialectical1 not upon     
metaphysical methods1 that it does not  
move upon the eternal sameness of a     
perpetually recurring circle1 but that  
it goes through an actual historic      
evolution4  ,this new ,german philosophy
 culminated in the system of ,hegel4    
,there for the first time--and herein   
consists its merit--the whole natural1  
historic1 and intellectual world was    
presented as a process1 i4 e41 engaged  
in perpetual motion1 change1            
transformation and development4 ,viewed 
from this standpoint1 the history of    
mankind no longer appeared as a wild    
tangle of senseless deeds of violence1  
all equally to be rejected by a ripened 
philosophic judgment1 and which it were 

best to forget as soon as possible1 but 
as the process of the development of    
mankind itself--a development whose     
gradual march1 through all its stray    
paths1 and its eternal law1 through all 
its seeming fortuitousness1 it now      
became the task of the intellect to     
trace and to discover4  ,kirkup1 in his 
,history of ,socialism1 has this to say 
upon the dialectic method of            
investigation as used by ,marx3 ,in the 
system of ,marx1 it means that the      
business of enquiry is to trace the     
connection and concatenation in the     
links that make up the process of       
historic evolution1 to investigate how  
one stage succeeds another in the       
development of society1 the facts and   
forms of human life and history not     
being stable and stereotyped things1 but
 the ever-changing manifestations of the
 fluent and unresting real1 the course  
of which it is the duty of science to   
reveal4  ,the translator has endeavored 
to render the meaning of the original in

 as simple an ,english form as possible1
 and to1 generally speaking1 avoid      
technical terms4  ,,austin ,,lewis4     
,,author',s ,,preface4   ,in the preface
 of the ,critique of ,political         
,economy1 published at ,berlin1 in      
#ahei1 ,marx explained how we two1 in   
#ahde1 in ,brussels1 intended to work   
out together the antagonism of our      
views--that is1 the materialistic       
philosophy of history1 as developed by  
,marx--to the ideological ,german       
philosophy1 and1 in fact1 to compare it 
with our present philosophic knowledge4 
,the design was carried out in the form 
of a criticism of post-,hegelian        
philosophy4 ,the manuscript1 two big    
octavo volumes1 had long been at its    
intended place of publication in        
,westphalia1 when we received the news  
that altered circumstances did not      
permit of its being printed4 ,we        
postponed the publication of the        
manuscript indefinitely1 all the more   
willingly1 as we had attained our main  

object1 an understanding of our own     
position4  ,since then more than forty  
years have elapsed1 and ,marx has died  
without either of us having had an      
opportunity of coming back to the       
antithesis4 ,as regards our position    
with reference to ,hegel1 we have       
explained that1 as occasion has arisen1 
but1 nowhere1 as a whole4 ,we never came
 back to ,feuerbach1 who occupies an    
intermediate position between the       
philosophy of ,hegel and our own4  ,in  
the meantime the ,marxian philosophy has
 found champions beyond the boundaries  
of ,germany and of ,europe1 and in all  
the languages of the civilized world4   
,on the other hand1 the classic ,german 
philosophy has had a sort of new-birth  
abroad1 particularly in ,england and    
,scandinavia1 and even in ,germany they 
appear to be substituting the thin soup 
of eclecticism which seems to flow from 
the universities under the name of      
philosophy4  ,under these circumstances 
a short1 compact explanation of our     

relations to the ,hegelian philosophy1  
of our going forth and departure from   
it1 appears to me to be more and more   
required4 ,and just in the same way a   
full recognition of the influence which 
,feuerbach1 more than all the other     
post-,hegelian philosophers1 had over   
us1 during the period of our youthful   
enthusiasm1 presents itself to me as an 
unendurable debt of honor4 ,i also seize
 the opportunity the more readily since 
the editor of the ,neue ,zeit has asked 
me for a critical discussion of         
,starcke's book on ,feuerbach4 ,my work 
was published in the fourth and fifth   
volumes of #ahhf of that publication and
 here appears in a revised special      
edition4  ,before sending this          
manuscript to press ,i once again hunted
 up and examined the old manuscript of  
#ahde-f4 ,the part of it dealing with   
,feuerbach is not complete4 ,the portion
 completed consists in an exposition of 
the materialistic view of history and   
only proves how incomplete at that time 

was our knowledge of economic history4  
,the criticism of ,feuerbach's doctrine 
is not given in it4 ,it was therefore   
unsuitable for our purpose4 ,on the     
other hand1 ,i have found in an old     
volume of ,marx the eleven essays on    
,feuerbach printed here as an appendix4 
,these are notes hurriedly scribbled in 
for later elaboration1 not in the least 
degree prepared for the press1 but      
invaluable1 as the first written form1  
in which is planted the genial germ of  
the new philosophy4  ,,friedrich        
,,engels4  ,london1 #ba ,february1      
#ahhh4     ,,feuerbach     ,i4   ,the   
volume before us brings us at once to a 
period which1 in the matter of time1    
lies a full generation behind us1 but   
which is as foreign to the present      
generation in ,germany as if it were    
quite a century old4 ,and1 still1 it was
 the period of the preparation of       
,germany for the revolution of #ahdh1   
and all that has happened to us since is
 only a continuation of #ahdh1 only a   

carrying out of the last will and       
testament of the revolution4  ,just as  
in ,france in the eighteenth1 so in     
,germany in the nineteenth century1     
revolutionary philosophic conceptions   
introduced a breaking up of existing    
political conditions4 ,but how different
 the two appear6 ,the ,french were      
engaged in open fight with all          
recognized science1 with the ,church1   
frequently also with the ,state1 their  
writings were published beyond the      
frontiers in ,holland or in ,england1   
and they themselves were frequently     
imprisoned in the ,bastile4 ,the        
,germans1 on the contrary1 were         
professors1 appointed instructors of    
youth by the ,state1 their writings1    
recognized text-books1 and their        
definite system of universal progress1  
the ,hegelian1 raised1 as it were1 to   
the rank of a royal ,prussian philosophy
 of government4 ,and behind these       
professors1 behind their pedantically   
obscure utterances1 in their heavy      

wearisome periods1 was it possible that 
the revolution could conceal itself8    
,were not just the people who were      
looked upon at that time as the leaders 
of the revolution1 the ,liberals1 the   
bitterest opponents of the brain-turning
 philosophy8 ,but what neither the      
,governmentalists nor the ,liberals saw1
 that saw1 at least one man1 and that   
man was ,heinrich ,heine4  ,let us take 
an example4 ,no philosophic statement   
has so invited the thanks of            
narrow-minded governments and the anger 
of the equally narrow ,liberals as the  
famous statement of ,hegel3 ,all that is
 real is reasonable1 and all that is    
reasonable is real4 ,this was           
essentially the blessing of all that is1
 the philosophical benediction of       
despotism1 police-government1           
star-chamber justice and the censorship4
 ,so ,frederick ,william ,,iii and his  
subjects understood it2 but1 according  
to ,hegel1 not everything which exists  
is1 without exception1 real4 ,the       

attribute of reality belongs only to    
that which is at the same time          
necessary4 ,reality proves itself in the
 course of its development as necessity4
 ,any governmental act--,hegel himself  
instances the example of a certain tax  
law--by no means strikes him as real in 
the absence of other qualities4 ,but    
what is necessary proves itself in the  
last instance as reasonable also1 and   
applied to the ,prussian government1 the
 ,hegel doctrine1 therefore1 only means1
 this state is reasonable1 corresponding
 with reason1 as long as it is          
necessary1 and if it appear to us an    
evil1 but in spite of the evil still    
continues to exist1 the evil of the     
government finds its justification and  
its explanation in the corresponding    
evil of the subjects4 ,the ,prussians of
 that day had the government which they 
deserved4  ,but reality1 according to   
,hegel1 is by no means an attribute     
which belongs to a given social or      
political condition1 under all          

circumstances and at all times4 ,quite  
the contrary4 ,the ,roman ,republic was 
real1 but the ,roman ,empire which      
replaced it was also real4 ,the ,french 
,monarchy had become unreal in #aghi1   
that is1 it had lost all the quality of 
necessity1 and was so contrary to reason
 that it had to be destroyed by the     
,great ,revolution1 of which ,hegel     
always speaks with the greatest         
enthusiasm4 ,here1 therefore1 the       
monarchy was the unreal1 the revolution 
the real4 ,so in the course of progress 
all earlier reality becomes unreality1  
loses its necessity1 its right of       
existence1 its rationality2 in place of 
the dying reality comes a new vital     
reality1 peaceable when the old is      
sufficiently sensible to go to its death
 without a struggle1 forcible when it   
strives against this necessity4 ,and so 
the ,hegelian statement through the     
,hegelian dialectic turns to its        
opposite--all that is real in the course
 of human history becomes in the process

 of time irrational and is1 therefore1  
according to its destiny1 irrational1   
and has from the beginning inherited    
want of rationality1 and everything     
which is reasonable in the minds of men 
is destined to become real1 however much
 it may contradict the apparent reality 
of existing conditions4 ,the statement  
of the rationality of everything real   
dissolves itself1 according to the      
,hegelian mode of thought1 in the other1
 ,all that stands has ultimately only so
 much worth that it must fall4  ,but    
just there lay the true significance and
 the revolutionary character of the     
,hegelian philosophy 7to which1 as the  
conclusion of all progress since ,kant1 
we must here limit ourselves7 in that   
it1 once and for all1 gave the coup de  
grace to finiteness of results of human 
thought and action4 ,truth1 which it is 
the province of philosophy to recognize1
 was no longer1 according to ,hegel1 a  
collection of ready-made dogmatic       
statements1 which once discovered must  

only be thoroughly learned2 truth lay   
now in the process of knowledge itself1 
in the long historical development of   
learning1 which climbs from lower to    
ever higher heights of knowledge1       
without ever reaching the point of      
so-called absolute truth1 where it can  
go no further1 where it has nothing more
 to look forward to1 except to fold its 
hands in its lap and contemplate the    
absolute truth already gained4 ,and just
 as it is in the realm of philosophic   
knowledge1 so is it with every other    
kind of knowledge1 even with that of    
practical commerce4 ,and just as little 
as knowledge can history find a         
conclusion1 complete in one completed   
ideal condition of humanity1 a completed
 society1 a perfect state1 are things   
which can only exist as phantasies1 on  
the contrary1 all successive historical 
conditions are only places of pilgrimage
 in the endless evolutionary progress of
 human society from the lower to the    
higher4 ,every step is necessary and    

useful for the time and circumstances to
 which it owes its origin1 but it       
becomes weak and without justification  
under the newer and higher conditions   
which develop little by little in its   
own womb1 it must give way to the higher
 form1 which in turn comes to decay and 
defeat4 ,as the bourgeoisie through the 
greater industry1 competition1 and the  
world market destroyed the practical    
value of all stable and anciently       
honored institutions1 so this dialectic 
philosophy destroyed all theories of    
absolute truth1 and of an absolute state
 of humanity corresponding with them4   
,in face of it nothing final1 absolute  
or sacred exists1 it assigns mortality  
indiscriminately1 and nothing can exist 
before it save the unbroken process of  
coming into existence and passing away1 
the endless passing from the lower to   
the higher1 the mere reflection of which
 in the brain of the thinker it is      
itself4 ,it has indeed also a           
conservative side1 it recognizes the    

suitability of a given condition of     
knowledge and society for its time and  
conditions1 but only so far4 ,this      
conservatism of this philosophical view 
is relative1 its revolutionary character
 is absolute1 the only absolute which it
 allows to exist4  ,we do not1 at this  
point1 need to go into the question     
whether this philosophy is consistent   
throughout with the present position of 
natural science which predicts for the  
earth a possible end and for its        
inhabitability1 a fairly certain one2   
which1 therefore1 also recognizes that  
in human history there is not only an   
upshooting but also a down-growing      
branch4 ,we find ourselves1 at any rate1
 still a considerable distance from the 
turning point1 where the history of     
society begins to descend1 and we cannot
 expect the ,hegelian philosophy to     
meddle with a subject which at that time
 science had not yet placed upon the    
order of the day4  ,what must1 indeed1  
be said is this1 that the ,hegelian     

development does not1 according to      
,hegel1 show itself so clearly4 ,it is a
 necessary consequence of his method    
which he himself has never drawn with   
this explicitness4 ,and for this simple 
reason1 because he was compelled to make
 a system1 and a system of philosophy   
must1 in accordance with all its        
understood pretensions1 close somewhere 
with a definition of absolute truth4 ,so
 ,hegel1 therefore1 in his logic1 urged 
that this eternal truth is nothing else 
but the logical1 that is1 the historical
 process itself2 yet in spite of this he
 finds himself compelled to place an end
 to this process1 since he must come to 
an end with his system somewhere or     
other4 ,he can make this end a beginning
 again in logic1 since here the point of
 conclusion--the absolute idea1 which is
 only absolute in so far as he has      
nothing clear to say about it--divests  
itself in nature1 that is1 becomes      
transformed1 and later on1 in spirit1   
that is1 in thought and in history1     

comes to itself again4 ,but in the last 
philosophical analysis1 a return to the 
beginning is only possible in one way1  
namely1 if one place the end of history 
in this fact1 that mankind comes to a   
knowledge of the absolute idea1 and     
explain that this knowledge of the      
absolute idea is obtained in the        
,hegelian philosophy4 ,but in this way  
the whole dogmatic content of the       
,hegelian philosophy in the matter of   
absolute truth is explained in          
contradiction to his dialectic1 the     
cutting loose from all dogmatic methods1
 and thereby the revolutionary side     
becomes smothered under the dominating  
conservative4 ,and what can be said of  
philosophical knowledge can also be said
 of historical practice4 ,mankind1 that 
is1 in the person of ,hegel1 has arrived
 at the point of working out the        
absolute idea1 and must also practically
 have arrived so far as to make the     
absolute idea a reality4 ,the practical 
political demands of the abstract idea  

upon his contemporaries cannot1         
therefore1 be stretched too far4 ,and so
 we find as the conclusion of the       
philosophy of ,rights that the absolute 
idea shall realize itself in that       
limited monarchy which ,william ,,iii4  
so persistently1 vainly promised to his 
subjects2 therefore1 in a limited1      
moderate1 indirect control of the       
possessing classes1 suitable to the     
dominating small bourgeois class in     
,germany whereby1 in addition1 the      
necessity to us of the existence of the 
nobility is shown in a speculative      
fashion4  ,the essential usefulness of  
the system is sufficient to explain the 
manufacture of a very tame political    
conclusion by means of a thoroughly     
revolutionary method of reasoning4 ,the 
special form of this conclusion springs 
from this1 as a matter of fact1 that    
,hegel was a ,german1 and1 as in the    
case of his contemporary ,goethe1 he was
 somewhat of a philistine4 ,goethe and  
,hegel1 each of them was an ,olympian   

,zeus in his own sphere1 but they were  
neither of them quite free from ,german 
philistinism4  ,but all this does not   
hinder the ,hegelian system from playing
 an incomparably greater role than any  
earlier system and by virtue of this    
role developing riches of thought which 
are astounding even to-day4             
,phenomenology of the mind 7which one   
may parallel with embryology and        
palaeontology of the mind71 an evolution
 of the individual consciousness1       
through its different steps1 expressed  
as a brief reproduction of the steps    
through which the consciousness of man  
has historically passed1 logic1 natural 
philosophy1 mental philosophy1 and the  
latter worked out separately in its     
detailed historical subdivisions1       
philosophy of history1 of jurisprudence1
 of religion1 history of philosophy1    
esthetics1 etc4 ,hegel labored in all   
these different historical fields to    
discover and prove the thread of        
evolution1 and as he was not only a     

creative genius1 but also a man of      
encyclopedic learning1 he was thus1 from
 every point of view1 the maker of an   
epoch4 ,it is self-evident that by      
virtue of the necessities of the ,system
 he must very often take refuge in      
certain forced constructions1 about     
which his pigmy opponents make such an  
ado even at the present time4 ,but these
 constructions are only the frames and  
scaffoldings of his work2 if one does   
not stop unnecessarily at these but     
presses on further into the building one
 will find uncounted treasures which    
hold their full value to-day4 ,as       
regards all philosophers1 their system  
is doomed to perish and for this reason1
 because it emanates from an            
imperishable desire of the human soul1  
the desire to abolish all               
contradictions4 ,but if all             
contradictions are once and for all     
disposed of1 we have arrived at the     
so-called absolute truth1 history is at 
an end1 and yet it will continue to go  

on1 although there is nothing further   
left for it to do--thus a newer and more
 insoluble contradiction4 ,so soon as we
 have once perceived--and to this       
perception no one has helped us more    
than ,hegel himself--that the task thus 
imposed upon philosophy signifies       
nothing different than the task that a  
single philosopher shall accomplish what
 it is only possible for the entire     
human race to accomplish1 in the course 
of its progressive development--as soon 
as we understand that1 it is all over   
with philosophy in the present sense of 
the word4 ,in this way one discards the 
absolute truth1 unattainable for the    
individual1 and follows instead the     
relative truths attainable by way of the
 positive sciences1 and the collection  
of their results by means of the        
dialectic mode of thought4 ,with ,hegel 
universal philosophy comes to an end1 on
 the one hand1 because he comprehended  
in his system its entire development on 
the greatest possible scale2 on the     

other hand1 because he showed us the    
way1 even if he did not know it himself1
 out of this labyrinth of systems1 to a 
real positive knowledge of the world4   
,one may imagine what an immense effect 
the ,hegelian philosophy produced in the
 philosophy-dyed atmosphere of ,germany4
 ,the triumph lasted for ten years and  
by no means subsided with the death of  
,hegel4 ,on the contrary1 from #ahcj to 
#ahdj ,hegelianism was exclusively      
supreme and had fastened itself upon its
 opponents to a greater or less degree4 
,during this period ,hegel's views1     
consciously or unconsciously1 penetrated
 the different sciences1 and saturated  
popular literature and the daily press  
from which the ordinary so-called       
cultured classes derive their mental    
pabulum4 ,but this victory down the     
whole line was only preliminary to a    
conflict within its own ranks4  ,the    
entire doctrine of ,hegel left1 as we   
have seen1 plenty of room for the       
bringing under it the most diverse      

practical opinions1 and the practical1  
in the then theoretic ,germany1         
consisted in only two things--religion  
and politics4 ,he who laid the greatest 
stress upon the ,hegelian system1 might 
be moderately conservative in both these
 respects1 while he who considered the  
dialectic method of the greatest        
importance could belong to the extreme  
left in religious and political affairs4
 ,hegel himself1 in spite of the        
frequent outbursts of revolutionary     
wrath in his books1 was inclined1 on the
 whole1 to the conservative side4 ,his  
system1 rather than his method1 had cost
 him the hard thinking4 ,at the end of  
the thirties1 the division in the school
 grew greater and greater4 ,the left    
wing1 the so-called ,young ,hegelians1  
in their fight with the pious orthodox1 
abandoned little by little1 that marked 
philosophical reserve regarding the     
burning questions of the day1 which had 
up to that time secured for their       
teachings ,state toleration and even    

protection1 and as in #ahdj orthodox    
pietism and absolutist feudal reaction  
ascended the throne with ,frederick     
,william ,,iv41 open partisanship became
 unavoidable4 ,the fight was still      
maintained with philosophical weapons1  
but no longer along abstract            
philosophical lines2 they went straight 
to deny the dominant religion and the   
existing state1 and although in the     
,deutschen ,jahrbuechern the practical  
aims were still put forward clothed in  
philosophical phraseology1 the younger  
,hegelian school threw off disguise in  
the ,rheinische ,zeitung1 as the        
exponents of the philosophy of the      
struggling radicals1 and used the cloak 
of philosophy only to deceive the       
censorship4  ,but politics were at that 
time a very thorny field1 and so the    
main fight was directed against         
religion4 ,but this was also1           
particularly since #ahdj1 indirectly a  
political fight4 ,strauss' ,leben ,jesu1
 published in #ahce1 had given the first

 cause of offense4 ,the theory therein  
developed regarding the origin of the   
gospel myths ,bruno ,bauer later dealt  
with1 adding the additional proof that a
 whole series of evangelical stories had
 been invented by their authors4 ,the   
fight between these two was carried on  
under a philosophical disguise1 as a    
battle of mind with matter2 the question
 whether the marvellous stories of the  
gospel came into being through an       
unconscious myth-creation in the womb of
 society1 or whether they were          
individually invented by the evangelists
 broadened into the question whether in 
the history of the race1 mind or matter 
carried the real weight1 and lastly came
 ,stirner1 the prophet of modern        
anarchism--,bakunine has taken very much
 from him--and overtopped the sovereign 
power of consciousness with his         
sovereign power of the individual4  ,we 
do not follow the decomposition of the  
,hegelian school on this side any       
further4 ,what is more important for us 

is this3 ,the mass of the most decided  
young ,hegelians were driven back upon  
,english-,french materialism through the
 necessities of their fight against     
positive religion4 ,here they came into 
conflict with their school system4      
,according to materialism1 nature exists
 as the sole reality1 it exists in the  
,hegelian system only as the alienation 
of the absolute ,idea1 as it were a     
degradation of the ,idea2 under all     
circumstances1 thought1 and its         
thought-product1 the ,idea1 according to
 this view1 appears as the original1    
nature1 which only exists through the   
condescension of the ,idea as the       
derived1 and in this contradiction they 
got along as well or as ill as they     
might4  ,then came ,feuerbach's ,wesen  
des ,christenthums4 ,with one blow it   
cut the contradiction1 in that it placed
 materialism on the throne again without
 any circumlocution4 ,nature exists     
independently of all philosophies4 ,it  
is the foundation upon which we1        

ourselves products of nature1 are built4
 ,outside man and nature nothing exists1
 and the higher beings which our        
religious phantasies have created are   
only the fantastic reflections of our   
individuality4 ,the cord was broken1 the
 system was scattered and destroyed1 the
 contradiction1 since it only existed in
 the imagination1 was solved4 ,one must 
himself have experienced the delivering 
power of this book to get a clear idea  
of it4 ,the enthusiasm was universal1 we
 were all for the moment followers of   
,feuerbach4 ,how enthusiastically ,marx 
greeted the new idea and how much he was
 influenced by it1 in spite of all his  
critical reservations1 one may read in  
the ,holy ,family4  ,the very faults of 
the book contributed to its momentary   
effect4 ,the literary1 impressive1 even 
bombastic style secured for it a very   
large public and was a constant relief  
after the long years of abstract and    
abstruse ,hegelianism4 ,the same result 
also proceeded from the extravagant     

glorification of love1 which in         
comparison with the insufferable        
sovereignty of pure reason1 found an    
excuse1 if not a justification4 ,what we
 must not forget is1 that just on these 
two weaknesses of ,feuerbach true       
,socialism in educated ,germany fastened
 itself like a spreading plague since   
#ahdd1 and set literary phrases in the  
place of scientific knowledge1 the      
freeing of mankind by means of love in  
place of the emancipation of the        
proletariat1 through the economic       
transformation of production1 in short  
lost itself in nauseous fine writing and
 in sickly sentimentality1 of the type  
of which class of writers was ,herr     
,karl ,gruen4  ,we must furthermore not 
forget that though the ,hegelian school 
was destroyed the ,hegelian philosophy  
was not critically vanquished4 ,strauss 
and ,bauer took each a side and engaged 
in polemics4 ,feuerbach broke through   
the system and threw it as a whole      
aside4 ,but one has not finished with a 

philosophy by simply declaring it to be 
false1 and so enormous a work as the    
,hegelian philosophy which has had so   
tremendous an influence upon the mental 
development of the nation did not allow 
itself to be put aside peremptorily4 ,it
 had to be destroyed in its own way1    
which means in the way that critically  
destroys its form but saves the new     
acquisitions to knowledge won by it4    
,how this was brought about we shall see
 below4  ,but for the moment1 the       
,revolution of #ahdh put aside all      
philosophical discussion just as        
unceremoniously as ,feuerbach laid aside
 ,hegel4 ,and then ,feuerbach was       
himself crowded out4     ,,ii4   ,the   
great foundation question of all1       
especially new1 philosophies is         
connected with the relation between     
thinking and being4 ,since very early   
times when men1 being in complete       
ignorance respecting their own bodies1  
and stirred by apparitions1#a arrived at
 the idea that thought and sensation    

were not acts of their own bodies1 but  
of a special soul dwelling in the body  
and deserting it at death1 ever since   
then they have been obliged to give     
thought to the relations of this soul to
 the outside world4 ,if it betook itself
 from the body and lived on1 there was  
no reason to invent another death for   
it2 thus arose the conception of their  
immortality1 which1 at that evolutionary
 stage1 did not appear as a consolation1
 but as fate1 against which a man cannot
 strive1 and often enough1 as among the 
,greeks1 as a positive misfortune4 ,not 
religious desire for consolation but    
uncertainty arising from a similar      
universal ignorance of what to associate
 with the soul when once it was         
acknowledged1 after the death of the    
body1 led universally to the tedious    
idea of personal immortality4 ,just in a
 similar fashion the first gods arose1  
through the personification of the      
forces of nature1 and these in the      
further development of the religions    

acquired greater and greater            
supernatural force1 until by a natural  
process of abstraction1 ,i might say of 
distillation1 from the many more or less
 limited and mutually limiting gods1 in 
the course of spiritual development1 at 
last the idea of the one all embracing  
god of the monotheistic religions took  
its place in the minds of men4  ,the    
question of the relation of thinking to 
being1 of the relation of the spirit to 
nature1 the highest question of         
universal philosophy1 has therefore1 no 
less than all religion1 its roots in the
 limited and ignorant ideas of the      
condition of savagery4 ,it could first  
be understood1 and its full significance
 could first be grasped1 when mankind   
awoke from the long winter sleep of     
,christian ,middle ,ages4 ,the question 
of the relation of thought to existence1
 a question which had also played a     
great role in the scholasticism of the  
,middle ,ages1 the question what is at  
the beginning spirit or nature1 this    

question was in spite of the church now 
cut down to this3 ,has ,god made the    
world or is the world from eternity8    
,as this question was answered this way 
or that the philosophers were divided   
into two great camps4 ,the one party    
which placed the origin of the spirit   
before that of nature1 and therefore in 
the last instance accepted creation1 in 
some form or other--and this creation1  
is often according to the philosophers1 
according to ,hegel for example1 still  
more odd and impossible than in         
,christianity--made the camp of         
idealism4 ,the others1 who recognized   
nature as the source1 belong to the     
various schools of materialism4  ,the   
two expressions signify something       
different from this4 ,idealism and      
materialism1 originally not used in any 
other sense1 are not here employed in   
any other sense4 ,we shall see what     
confusion arises when one tries to force
 another signification into them4  ,the 
question of the relationship of thinking

 and being has another side2 in what    
relation do our thoughts with regard to 
the world surrounding us stand to this  
world itself8 ,is our thought in a      
position to recognize the real world8   
,can we1 in our ideas and notion of the 
real world1 produce a correct reflection
 of the reality8 ,this question is      
called in philosophical language the    
question of the identity of thinking and
 being1 and is affirmed by the great    
majority of philosophers4 ,according to 
,hegel1 for example1 its affirmation is 
self-evident1 for that which we know in 
the actual world is its content1        
according to our thought1 that which    
compels the world to a progressive      
realization as it were of the absolute  
,idea1 which absolute idea has existed  
somewhere1 unattached from the world and
 before the world2 and that thought can 
recognize a content which is already a  
thought content herein1 from the        
beginning1 appears self-evident4 ,it is 
also evident that what is here to be    

proved is already hidden in the         
hypothesis4 ,but that does not hinder   
,hegel1 by any means1 from drawing the  
further conclusion from his proof of the
 identity of thought and existence that 
his philosophy1 because correct for his 
thought1 is1 therefore1 the only correct
 one1 and that the identity of thought  
and existence must show itself in this1 
that mankind should forthwith translate 
his philosophy from theory to practice  
and the whole world shift itself to a   
,hegelian base4 ,this is an illusion    
which he shares alike with all          
philosophers4  ,in addition there is    
still another class of philosophers1    
those who dispute the possibility of a  
perception of the universe or at least  
of an exhaustive perception4 ,to them   
belong1 among the moderns1 ,hume and    
,kant1 and they have played a very      
distinguished role in the evolution of  
philosophy4 ,this point of view has been
 now refuted by ,hegel1 as far as       
possible1 from the idealistic           

standpoint4 ,the materialistic additions
 made by ,feuerbach are more ingenious  
than deep4 ,the most destructive        
refutation of this as of all other fixed
 philosophic ideas is actual result1    
namely experiment and industry4 ,if we  
can prove the correctness of our idea of
 an actual occurrence by experiencing it
 ourselves and producing it from its    
constituent elements1 and using it for  
our own purposes into the bargain1 the  
,kantian phrase ,ding an ,sich 7thing in
 itself7 ceases to have any meaning4    
,the chemical substances which go to    
form the bodies of plants and animals   
remained just such ,dinge an ,sich until
 organic chemistry undertook to show    
them one after the other1 whereupon the 
thing in itself became a thing for us1  
as the coloring matter in the roots of  
madder1 alizarin1 which we no longer    
allow to grow in the roots of the madder
 in the field1 but make much more       
cheaply and simply from coal tar4 ,the  
,copernican system was for three hundred

 years a hypothesis1 with a hundred1 a  
thousand1 or ten thousand chances in its
 favor1 but still a hypothesis4 ,but    
when ,leverrier by means of the data of 
this system not only discovered the     
existence of a certain unknown planet1  
but even calculated the position in the 
heavens which this planet must          
necessarily occupy1 and when ,galles    
really found this planet1 then the      
,copernican system was proved4 ,if1     
nevertheless1 the resurrection of the   
,kantian idea in ,germany is being tried
 by the ,neo-,kantians1 and of that of  
,hume in ,england 7where they never     
died71 by the agnostics1 that is1 in the
 face of the long past theoretical and  
practical refutation of these doctrines1
 scientifically1 a step backwards1 and  
practically1 merely the acceptance of   
materialism in a shame-faced way1       
clandestinely1 and the denial of it     
before the world4  ,but the philosophers
 were during this long period from      
,descartes to ,hegel and from ,hobbes to

 ,feuerbach by no means1 as they        
thought1 impelled solely by the force of
 pure reason4 ,on the contrary1 what    
really impelled them was1 in particular1
 the strong and ever quicker conquering 
step of natural science and industry4   
,among the materialists this very       
quickly showed itself on the surface1   
but the idealistic systems filled       
themselves more and more with           
materialistic content and sought to     
reconcile the antagonism between spirit 
and matter by means of pantheism1 so    
that finally the ,hegelian system       
represented merely a materialism turned 
upside down1 according to idealistic    
method and content4  ,of course ,starcke
 in his ,characteristics of ,feuerbach  
enquired into the fundamental question  
of the relations of thinking and being4 
,after a short introduction in which the
 ideas of preceding philosophers1       
particularly since ,kant1 are portrayed 
in unnecessarily heavy philosophical    
language and in which ,hegel1 owing to a

 too formal insistence on certain parts 
of his work does not receive due credit1
 there follows a copious description of 
the development of the metaphysics of   
,feuerbach1 as shown in the course of   
the recognized writings of this         
philosopher4 ,this description is       
industriously and carefully elaborated1 
and1 like the whole book1 is            
overballasted with1 not always          
unavoidable1 philosophical expressions1 
which is all the more annoying in that  
the writer does not hold to the         
vocabulary of one and the same school   
nor even of ,feuerbach himself1 but     
mixes up expressions of very different  
schools1 and especially of the present  
epidemic of schools calling themselves  
philosophical4  ,the evolution of       
,feuerbach is that of a ,hegelian to    
materialism--not of an orthodox         
,hegelian1 indeed--an evolution which   
from a definite point makes a complete  
breach with the idealistic system of his
 predecessor4 ,with irresistible force  

he brings himself to the view that the  
,hegelian idea of the existence of the  
absolute idea before the world1 the     
pre-existence of the logical categories 
before the universe came into being1 is 
nothing else than the fantastical       
survival of the belief in the existence 
of an extra-mundane creator2 that the   
material1 sensible1 actual world1 to    
which we ourselves belong1 is the only  
reality1 and that our consciousness and 
thought1 however supernatural they may  
seem1 are only evidences of a material  
bodily organ1 the brain4 ,matter is not 
a product of mind1 but mind itself is   
only the highest product of matter4     
,this is1 of course1 pure materialism4  
,when he reached this point ,feuerbach  
came to a standstill4 ,he cannot        
overcome ordinary philosophical         
prejudice1 prejudice not against the    
thing1 but against the name materialism4
 ,he says ,materialism is for me the    
foundation of the building of the being 
and knowledge of man1 but it is not for 

me what it is for the physiologists in  
the narrow sense1 as ,moleschott1 for   
example1 since necessarily from their   
standpoint it is the building itself4   
,backwards1 ,i am in accord with the    
materialists but not forwards4          
,feuerbach here confuses materialism1   
which is a philosophy of the universe   
dependent upon a certain comprehension  
of the relations between matter and     
spirit1 with the special forms in which 
this philosophy appeared at a certain   
historical stage--namely in the         
eighteenth century4 ,more than that he  
confuses it with the shallow and        
vulgarized form in which the materialism
 of the eighteenth century exists today1
 in the minds of naturalists and        
physicians1 and was popularized during a
 period of fifty years in the writings  
of ,buechner1 ,vogt and ,moleschott4    
,but as idealism has passed through a   
series of evolutionary developments1 so 
also has materialism--with each         
epoch-making discovery in the department

 of natural science it has been obliged 
to change its form2 since then1 history 
also1 being subjected to the            
materialistic method of treatment1 shows
 itself as a new road of progress4  ,the
 materialism of the preceding century   
was overwhelmingly mechanical1 because  
at that time of all the natural         
sciences1 mechanics1 and indeed1 only   
the mechanics of the celestial and      
terrestrial fixed bodies1 the mechanics 
of gravity1 in short1 had reached any   
definite conclusions4 ,chemistry existed
 at first only in a childish1 phlogistic
 form4 ,biology still lay in swaddling  
clothes2 the organism of plants and     
animals was examined only in a very     
cursory manner1 and was explained upon  
purely mechanical grounds2 just as an   
animal was to ,descartes nothing but a  
machine1 so was man to the materialists 
of the eighteenth century4 ,the         
exclusive application of the measure of 
mechanics to processes which are of     
chemical and organic nature and by      

which1 it is true1 the laws of mechanics
 are also manifested1 but are pushed    
into the background by other higher     
laws1 this application is the cause of  
the peculiar1 but1 considering the      
times1 unavoidable1 narrowmindedness of 
the ,french materialism4  ,the second   
special limitation of this materialism  
lies in its incapacity to represent the 
universe as a process1 as one form of   
matter assumed in the course of         
evolutionary development4 ,this         
limitation corresponded with the natural
 science of the time and the metaphysic 
coincident therewith1 that is the       
anti-dialectic methods of the           
philosophers4 ,nature1 as was known1 was
 in constant motion1 but this motion1   
according to the universally accepted   
ideas1 turned eternally in a circle1 and
 therefore never moved from the spot1   
and produced the same results over and  
over again4 ,this idea was at that time 
inevitable4 ,the ,kantian theory of the 
origin of the solar system was at first 

exhibited and considered as a mere      
curiosity4 ,the history of the          
development of the earth-geology was    
still unknown1 and the idea that the    
living natural objects of to-day are the
 result of a long process of development
 from the simple to the complex could   
not be scientifically established at    
that time4 ,this anti-historical        
comprehension of nature was1 therefore1 
inevitable4 ,we cannot reproach the     
philosophers of the eighteenth century  
with this1 as the same thing is also    
found in ,hegel4 ,according to him1     
nature is the mere outward form of the  
,idea1 capable of no progress as regards
 time1 but merely of an extension of its
 manifoldness in space1 so that it      
displays all the stages of development  
comprised in it at one and the same time
 together1 and is condemned to a        
repetition of the same processes4 ,and  
this absurdity of a progress in space   
but outside of time--the fundamental    
condition of all progress--,hegel loads 

upon nature1 just at the very time when 
geology1 embryology1 the physiology of  
plants and animals1 and inorganic       
chemistry1 were being built up1 and when
 above all genial prophecies of the     
later evolution theory appeared at the  
very threshold of these new sciences 7e4
 g41 ,goethe and ,lamark71 but the      
system so required it1 and the method1  
for love of the system1 had to prove    
untrue to itself4  ,this unhistoric     
conception had its effects also in the  
domain of history4 ,here the fight      
against the remnants of the ,middle     
,ages kept the outlook limited4 ,the    
,middle ,ages were reckoned as a mere   
interruption of history by a thousand   
years of barbarism4 ,the great advances 
of the ,middle ,ages--the broadening of 
,european learning1 the bringing into   
existence of great nations1 which arose1
 one after the other1 and finally the   
enormous technical advances of the      
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries--all 
this no one saw4 ,consequently a        

rational view of the great historic     
development was rendered impossible1 and
 history served principally as a        
collection of examples and illustrations
 for the use of philosophers4  ,the     
vulgarizing peddlers who during the     
fifties occupied themselves with        
materialism in ,germany did not by any  
means escape the limitations of their   
doctrine4 ,all the advances made in     
science served them only as new grounds 
of proof against the existence of the   
,creator1 and indeed it was far beyond  
their trade to develop the theory any   
further4 ,idealism was at the end of its
 tether and was smitten with death by   
the ,revolution of #ahdh4 ,yet it had   
the satisfaction that materialism sank  
still lower4 ,feuerbach was decidedly   
right when he refused to take the       
responsibility of this materialism1 only
 he had no business to confound the     
teachings of the itinerant spouters with
 materialism in general4  ,however1 we  
must here remark two different things4  

,during the life of ,feuerbach science  
was still in that state of violent      
fermentation which has only             
comparatively cleared during the last   
fifteen years2 new material of knowledge
 was furnished in a hitherto unheard of 
measure but the fixing of               
interrelations1 and therewith of order1 
in the chaos of overwhelming discoveries
 was rendered possible quite lately for 
the first time4 ,true1 ,feuerbach had   
lived to see the three distinctive      
discoveries--that of the cell1 the      
transformation of energy and the        
evolution theory acknowledged since the 
time of ,darwin4 ,but how could the     
solitary country-dwelling philosopher   
appreciate at their full value          
discoveries which naturalists themselves
 at that time in part contested and     
partly did not understand how to avail  
themselves of sufficiently8 ,the        
disgrace falls solely upon the miserable
 conditions in ,germany owing to which  
the chairs of philosophy were filled by 

pettifogging eclectic pedants1 while    
,feuerbach1 who towered high above them 
all1 had to rusticate and grow sour in a
 little village4 ,it is therefore no    
shame to ,feuerbach that he never       
grasped the natural evolutionary        
philosophy which became possible with   
the passing away of the partial views of
 ,french materialism4  ,in the second   
place1 ,feuerbach held quite correctly  
that scientific materialism is the      
foundation of the building of human     
knowledge but it is not the building    
itself4 ,for we live not only in nature 
but in human society1 and this has its  
theory of development and its science no
 less than nature4 ,it was necessary1   
therefore1 to bring the science of      
society1 that is the so-called          
historical and philosophical sciences1  
into harmony with the materialistic     
foundations and to rebuild upon them4   
,but this was not granted to ,feuerbach4
 ,here he stuck1 in spite of the        
foundations1 held in the confining bonds

 of idealism1 and to this he testified  
in the words ,backwards ,i am with the  
materialists1 but not forwards4 ,but    
,feuerbach himself did not go forward in
 his views of human society from his    
standpoint of #ahdj and #ahdd1 chiefly  
owing to that loneliness which compelled
 him to think everything out by himself1
 instead of in friendly and hostile     
conflict with other men of his calibre1 
although of all philosophers he was the 
fondest of intercourse with his fellows4
 ,we shall see later on how he thus     
remained an idealist4 ,here we can only 
call attention to the fact that ,starcke
 sought the idealism of ,feuerbach in   
the wrong place4 ,feuerbach is an       
idealist2 he believes in the advance of 
mankind 7p4 #ai74 ,the foundations1 the 
underpinning of the whole1 is therefore 
nothing less than idealism4 ,realism is 
for us nothing more than a protection   
against error while we follow our own   
idealistic tendencies4 ,are not         
compassion1 love and enthusiasm for     

truth and justice ideal forces8  ,in the
 first place1 idealism is here defined  
as nothing but the following of ideal   
aims4 ,but these have necessarily to do 
principally with the idealism of ,kant  
and his ,categorical ,imperative4 ,but  
,kant himself called his philosophy     
transcendental idealism1 by no means    
because he deals therein with moral     
ideals1 but on quite other grounds1 as  
,starcke will remember4  ,the           
superstition that philosophical idealism
 pivots around a belief in moral1 that  
is in social ideals1 arose with the     
,german non-philosophical ,philistine1  
who commits to memory the few           
philosophical morsels which he finds in 
,schiller's poems4 ,nobody has          
criticised more severely the feeble     
,categorical ,imperative of             
,kant--feeble because it demands the    
impossible and therefore never attains  
to any reality--nobody has ridiculed    
more cruelly the ,philistine            
sentimentality imparted by ,schiller1   

because of its unrealizable ideals1 than
 just the idealist par excellence1      
,hegel4 7,see e4 g4 ,phenomenology47    
,in the second place1 it cannot be      
avoided that all human sensations pass  
through the brain--even eating and      
drinking which are commenced consequent 
upon hunger and thirst felt by the brain
 and ended in consequence of sensations 
of satisfaction similarly experienced by
 the brain4 ,the realities of the outer 
world impress themselves upon the brain 
of man1 reflect themselves there1 as    
feelings1 thoughts1 impulses1 volitions1
 in short1 as ideal tendencies1 and in  
this form become ideal forces4 ,if the  
circumstance that this man follows ideal
 tendencies at all1 and admits that     
ideal forces exercise an influence over 
him1 if this makes an idealist of him1  
every normally developed man is in some 
sense a born idealist1 and under such   
circumstances how can materialists      
exist8  ,in the third place1 the        
conviction that humanity1 at least at   

present1 as a whole1 progresses1 has    
absolutely nothing to do with the       
antagonism between materialism and      
idealism4 ,the ,french materialists had 
this conviction1 to a fanatical degree1 
no less than the deists1 ,voltaire and  
,rousseau1 and made the greatest        
personal sacrifices for it4 ,if anybody 
ever concentrated his whole life to the 
enthusiasm for truth and justice1 taking
 the words in a moral sense1 it was     
,diderot1 for example4 ,therefore1 since
 ,starcke has explained all this as     
idealism1 it simply proves that the word
 materialism has lost all significance  
for him1 as has also the antagonism     
between the aims of the two4  ,the fact 
is that ,starcke here makes an          
unpardonable concession to the          
prejudices of the ,philistines caused by
 the long continued slanders of the     
clergy against the word materialism1    
even if without consciously doing so4   
,the ,philistine understands by the word
 materialism1 gluttony1 drunkenness1    

carnal lust1 and fraudulent speculation1
 in short all the enormous vices to     
which he himself is secretly addicted1  
and by the word idealism he understands 
the belief in virtue1 universal         
humanitarianism1 and a better world as a
 whole1 of which he boasts before       
others1 and in which he himself at the  
very most believes1 only as long as he  
must endure the blues which follow      
necessarily from his customary          
materialistic excesses1 and so sings his
 favorite song--,what is man8--,half    
beast1 half angel4  ,as for the rest1   
,starcke takes great pains to defend    
,feuerbach against the attacks and      
doctrines of those collegians who plume 
themselves in ,germany as philosophers  
now-a-days4 ,it is true that this is a  
matter of importance to those people who
 take an interest in the afterbirth of  
the ,german classic philosophy1 to      
,starcke himself this might appear      
necessary4 ,we spare the reader this1   
however4  ,,footnote3  #a ,to this very 

day the idea is prevalent among savages 
and barbarians that the human forms     
appearing in our dreams are souls which 
temporarily leave the body1 and that1   
therefore1 the real man becomes liable  
for the deeds done to the dreamer by his
 dream appearance4 ,so ,imthurm1 for    
example1 found it in #ahhd among the    
,indians in ,guiana4     ,,iii4   ,the  
distinct idealism of ,feuerbach is      
evident directly we come to his         
philosophy of religion and ethics4 ,he  
does not wish to abolish religion by any
 means2 he wants to perfect it4         
,philosophy itself will be absorbed in  
religion4 ,the periods of human progress
 are only distinguishable by religious  
changes4 ,there is only a real          
historical progress where it enters the 
hearts of men4 ,the heart is not a place
 for religion1 so that it should be in  
the heart1 it is the very being of      
religion4 ,religion is1 according to    
,feuerbach1 a matter of the             
feelings--the feelings of love between  

man and man which up to now sought its  
realization in the fantastic reflected  
image of the reality--in the            
interposition through one or more gods  
of the fantastic reflections of human   
qualities--but now by means of love     
between ego and tu finds itself directly
 and without any intermediary4          
,according to ,feuerbach love between   
the sexes is1 if not the highest form1  
at least one of the highest forms1 of   
the practice of his new religion4  ,now1
 feelings of affection between man and  
man1 and particularly between members of
 the two sexes1 have existed as long as 
mankind has4 ,love between the sexes has
 been cultivated especially during the  
last eighteen hundred years and has won 
a place which has made it1 in this      
period1 a compulsory motive for all     
poetry4 ,the existing positive religions
 have limited themselves in this matter 
to the bestowal of complete consecration
 upon the ,state regulation of sexual   
love1 and might completely disappear    

tomorrow without the least difference   
taking place in the matter of love and  
friendship4 ,thus the ,christian        
religion in ,france was1 as a matter of 
fact1 so completely overthrown between  
the years #agic and #agih1 that         
,napoleon himself could not re-introduce
 it without opposition and difficulty1  
without1 in the interval1 any desire for
 a substitute1 in ,feuerbach's sense1   
making itself felt4  ,feuerbach's       
idealism consists in this1 that he does 
not simply take for granted the mutual  
and reciprocal feelings of men for one  
another such as sexual love1 friendship1
 compassion1 self-sacrifice1 etc41 but  
declares that they would come to their  
full realization for the first time as  
soon as they were consecrated under the 
name of religion4 ,the main fact for him
 is not that these purely human         
relations exist1 but that they will be  
conceived of as the new true religion4  
,they will be fully realized for the    
first time if they are stamped as       

religions4 ,religion is derived from    
religare and means originally fastening4
 ,therefore1 every bond between men is  
religion4 ,such etymological artifices  
are the last resort of the idealistic   
philosophy4 ,not what the word means    
according to the historical development 
of its true significance1 but what it   
should mean according to its derivation 
is what counts1 and so sex-love and the 
intercourse between the sexes is        
consecrated as a religion only so that  
the word religion1 which is dear to the 
mind of the idealist1 shall not vanish  
from the language4 ,the ,parisian       
reformer of the stripe of ,louis ,blanc 
used to speak just in the same way in   
the forties1 for they could only        
conceive of a man without religion as a 
monster1 and used to say to us ,atheism1
 then1 is your religion4  ,if ,feuerbach
 wants to place true religion upon the  
basis of real materialistic philosophy1 
that would be just the same as          
conceiving of modern chemistry as true  

alchemy4 ,if religion can exist without 
its ,god then alchemy can exist without 
its philosopher's stone4 ,there exists1 
by the way1 a very close connection     
between alchemy and religion4 ,the      
philosopher's stone has many properties 
of the old gods1 and the                
,egyptian-,greek alchemists of the first
 two centuries of our era have had their
 hands in the development of ,christian 
doctrines1 as ,kopp and ,berthelot      
prove4  ,feuerbach's declaration that   
the periods of man's development are    
only differentiated through changes in  
religion is false4 ,great historical    
points of departure are coincident with 
religious changes only as far as the    
three world-religions which exist up to 
the present are concerned--,buddhism1   
,christianity and ,islam4 ,the old      
tribal and national religions           
originating in nature were not          
propagandist and lost all power of      
resistance as soon as the independence  
of the tribe and people was destroyed4  

,among the ,germans simple contact with 
the decaying ,roman ,empire and the     
,christian world-religion springing from
 it and suitable to its economic1       
political and ideal circumstances1 was  
sufficient4 ,in the first place1 as     
regards these more or less artificial   
world-religions1 particularly in the    
cases of ,christianity and              
,mohammedanism1 we find that the more   
universal historical movements will take
 on a religious stamp1 and as far as    
concerns ,christianity in particular1   
the stamp of the religion affecting     
revolutionary movements of universal    
significance stopped short at the       
commencement of the fight of the        
bourgeois for emancipation from the     
thirteenth to the seventeenth century1  
and showed itself not as ,feuerbach     
declares in the hearts of men and the   
thirst for religion1 but in the entire  
earlier history of the ,middle ,ages    
which knew no other form of idealism    
than religion and theology4 ,but as the 

bourgeoisie in the eighteenth century   
was sufficiently strong to have its own 
ideology suitable to its own standpoint1
 it forthwith made its great and final  
revolution1 the ,french1 by means of an 
appeal exclusively to juristic and      
political ideals1 and troubled itself   
with religion only so far as it stood in
 its way4 ,it never occurred to it to   
establish a new religion in place of the
 old one2 everybody knows what a mess   
,robespierre made of the attempt4  ,the 
possibility of a purely humane sentiment
 in intercourse with other men is with  
us today exceedingly impeded through the
 society founded on class antagonism and
 class supremacy in which we must move4 
,we have no need to trouble ourselves   
about sanctifying these sentiments by   
means of a new religion4 ,and just as   
the circumstances of the great          
historical class-fight have been        
obscured by the current historians1     
particularly in ,germany1 so in the same
 way the understanding of the great     

historical class-conflicts is           
sufficiently obscured by the present-day
 manner of writing history1 without our 
needing to change these conflicts into a
 mere appendix of ecclesiastical        
history4 ,here it is evident how far we 
in our day are away from ,feuerbach4    
,his most beautiful passages in praise  
of the new religion of love are today   
unreadable4  ,the only religion which   
,feuerbach examined closely is          
,christianity1 the universal religion of
 the western world which is founded upon
 monotheism4 ,he proves that the        
,christian ,god is only the fantastic   
reflection1 the reflected image of man4 
,but that ,god is himself the product of
 a lengthy process of abstraction1 the  
concentrated quintessence of the earlier
 tribal and national gods4 ,and man also
 whose reflection that ,god is1 is not a
 real man1 but is likewise the          
quintessence of many real men1 the      
abstract human1 and therefore himself   
again the creature of thought4 ,the same

 ,feuerbach who on each page preaches   
sensation1 diving into the concrete1 the
 real1 becomes thoroughly abstract as   
soon as he begins to talk of more than  
mere sensual intercourse between human  
beings4  ,of this relationship only one 
side appeals to him1 the moral1 and     
,feuerbach's astonishing lack of        
resources as compared with ,hegel is    
striking4 ,the ethic or rather moral    
doctrine of the latter1 is the          
,philosophy of ,right and embraces3 #a1 
,abstract ,right2 #b1 ,morality2 #c1    
,moral ,conduct1 under which are again  
comprised3 the family1 bourgeois1       
society1 and the ,state4 ,as the form is
 here idealistic1 the content is        
realistic4 ,the entire scope of law1    
economy1 politics1 is therein1 besides  
ethics4 ,with ,feuerbach1 it is just the
 reverse4 ,he is realistic in form2 he  
begins with man1 but the discussion has 
absolutely nothing to do with the world 
in which this man lives1 and so1 instead
 of the man1 stands an abstract man1 who

 preaches sermons concerning the        
philosophy of religion4 ,this man is not
 even the son of a mother2 he has       
developed from the ,god of the          
monotheistic religions4 ,he does not    
live in real historic conditions and the
 world of history4 ,he comes into       
relationship with other men1 but each of
 the others is just as much an          
abstraction as he himself is4 ,in the   
philosophy of religion we had still men 
and women1 but in the ethic this final  
distinction vanishes4 ,at long intervals
 ,feuerbach makes such statements as3 ,a
 man thinks differently in a palace than
 in a hut4 ,when you have nothing in    
your body to ward off hunger and misery1
 you have nothing in your head1 mind and
 heart for morality4 ,politics must be  
our religion1 etc4 ,but ,feuerbach was  
absolutely incapable of extracting any  
meaning from these remarks2 they remain 
purely literary expressions1 and        
,starcke himself is obliged to admit    
that the science of politics was an     

insuperable obstacle to ,feuerbach and  
the science of society1 sociology1 for  
him a terra incognita4  ,he appears just
 as uninspired in comparison with ,hegel
 in his treatment of the antithesis of  
good and evil4 ,one thinks he is saying 
something great1 ,hegel remarks if one  
says that mankind is by nature good1 but
 it is forgotten that one says something
 far greater in the words 'man is by    
nature evil4' ,according to ,hegel1 evil
 is the form in which the mechanical    
power of evolution shows itself1 and    
indeed in this lies the double idea that
 each new step forward appears as an    
outrage against a sacred thing1 as      
rebellion against the old1 dying1 but   
through custom1 sanctified1             
circumstances1 and on the other hand    
that since the rising of class          
antagonism1 the evil passions of men1   
greed and imperiousness serve as the    
levers of historical progress1 of which1
 for example1 the history of feudalism  
and the bourgeoisie affords a           

conspicuous proof4 ,but ,feuerbach does 
not trouble himself to examine the role 
of moral evil4 ,history is to him a     
particularly barren and unwonted field4 
,even his statement1 ,man as he sprang  
from nature originally was only a mere  
creature1 not a man4 ,man is a product  
of human society1 of education1 and of  
history4 ,even this statement remains   
from his standpoint absolutely          
unproductive4  ,what ,feuerbach         
communicates to us respecting morals    
must therefore be exceedingly narrow4   
,the desire for happiness is born within
 man and must hence be the foundation of
 all morality4 ,but the desire for      
happiness is limited in two ways2 first1
 through the natural results of our     
acts2 after the dissipation comes the   
headache1 as a result of habitual       
excess1 sickness2 in the second place1  
through its results upon society1 if we 
do not respect the similar desire for   
happiness on the part of other people1  
they resist us and spoil our pursuit of 

happiness4 ,it follows1 therefore1 that 
in order to enjoy our pursuit of        
happiness1 the result of our acts must  
be rightly appreciated1 and1 on the     
other hand1 must allow of the carrying  
out of the same acts on the part of     
others4 ,practical self-control with    
regard to ourselves and love1 always    
love1 in our intercourse with others are
 therefore the foundation rules of      
,feuerbach's morality1 from which all   
others lead1 and neither the            
enthusiastic periods of ,feuerbach nor  
the loud praises of ,starcke can set off
 the thinness and flatness of this pair 
of utterances4  ,the desire for         
happiness contents itself only very     
exceptionally1 and by no means to the   
profit of one's self or other people    
with self4 ,but it requires the outside 
world--means of satisfying              
itself--therefore means of subsistence1 
an individual of the other sex1 books1  
convention1 argument1 activity1 these   
means and matters of satisfaction are   

matters of utility and labor4           
,feuerbach's system of morality either  
predicates that these means and matters 
of satisfaction are given to every man  
per se1 or1 since it gives him only     
unpractical advice1 is not worth a jot  
to the people who are without these     
means4 ,and this ,feuerbach himself     
shows clearly in forcible words1 ,one   
thinks differently in a palace than in a
 hut4 ,where owing to misery and hunger 
you have no material in your body1 you  
have also no material in your head1 mind
 and heart for morals4  ,are matters any
 better with the equal right of another 
to the pursuit of happiness8 ,feuerbach 
set this statement out as absolute1 as  
applicable to all times and             
circumstances4 ,but since when has it   
been true8 ,was there in the olden time 
between slave and master or in the      
,middle ,ages between serf and baron any
 talk about equal rights to the pursuit 
of happiness8 ,was not the right to the 
pursuit of happiness of the subject     

class sacrificed to the dominant class  
regardlessly and by means of law8--nay1 
that was immoral1 but still equality of 
rights is recognized                    
now-a-days--recognized in words merely  
since the bourgeoisie in its fight      
against feudalism and in the institution
 of capitalistic production1 was        
compelled to abolish all existing       
exclusive1 that is1 personal1           
privileges1 and for the first time to   
introduce the right of the private      
individual1 then also gradually the     
right of the ,state1 and equality before
 law4 ,but the pursuit of happiness     
consists for the least part only in     
ideal rights1 and lies1 for the most    
part1 in means of material satisfaction 
takes care that only enough for bare    
subsistence falls to the great majority 
of those persons with equal rights1 and 
therefore regards the equality of right 
to the pursuit of happiness hardly      
better than slavery or serfdom did4 ,and
 are we better off as regards mental    

means of happiness--means of education8 
,is not the schoolmaster of ,sadowa a   
mythical person8  ,further1 according to
 the ethical theory of ,feuerbach1 the  
,bourse is the highest temple of        
morality1 only provided that one        
speculate rightly4 ,if my pursuit of    
happiness leads me to the ,bourse1 and  
,i1 in following my business1 manage so 
well that only what is agreeable and    
nothing detrimental comes to me1 that is
 that ,i win steadily1 ,feuerbach's     
precept is carried out4 ,in this way ,i 
do not interfere with the similar       
pursuit of happiness of anyone else1    
since the other man goes on the ,bourse 
just as voluntarily as ,i do1 and at the
 conclusion of his affairs a sentimental
 expression1 for each finds in the other
 the satisfaction of his pursuit of     
happiness which it is just the business 
of love to bring about1 and which it    
here practically accomplishes4 ,and     
since ,i carry on my operations with    
more exact prudence and therefore with  

greater success ,i fulfill the strongest
 maxims of the ,feuerbach moral         
philosophy and become a rich man into   
the bargain4 ,in other words1           
,feuerbach's morality is hewn out of the
 capitalistic system of today1 little as
 he might wish or think it to be4  ,but 
love1 yes love1 is particularly and     
eternally the magical god who1 according
 to ,feuerbach1 surmounts all the       
difficulties of practical life and that 
in a society which is divided into      
classes with diametrically opposing     
interests4 ,the last remnant of its     
revolutionary character is thus taken   
from his philosophy1 and there remains  
the old cant--love one another--fall    
into each other's arms without regard to
 any impediment of sex or               
position--universal intoxication of     
reconciliation4  ,in a word1 the moral  
theories of ,feuerbach turn out to be   
the same as those of all of his         
predecessors4 ,it is a hodge-podge of   
all times1 all people1 and all          

conditions1 and for this occasion is    
applicable to no time and place1 and as 
regards the actual world is as powerless
 as ,kant's ,categorical ,imperative4   
,as a matter of fact1 every class1 as   
well as every profession1 has its own   
system of morals and breaks even this   
when it can do it without punishment1   
and love1 which is to unite all1 appears
 today in wars1 controversies1 lawsuits1
 domestic broils and as far as possible 
mutual plunder4  ,but how was it        
possible that the powerful impetus given
 by ,feuerbach turned out so            
unprofitable to ,feuerbach himself4     
,simply in this way1 because ,feuerbach 
could not find his way out of the       
abstraction1 which he hated with a      
deadly hatred1 to living reality4 ,he   
clutches hard at ,nature and ,humanity1 
but ,nature and ,humanity remain empty  
words with him4 ,he does not know how to
 tell us anything positive about real   
nature and real men4 ,we can only reach 
living men from the abstract men of     

,feuerbach if we regard them as active  
historical agents4 ,feuerbach strove    
against that1 hence the year #ahdh1     
which1 he did not understand1 signified 
for him merely the final break with the 
real world1 retirement into solitude4   
,german conditions must for the most    
part bear the guilt of allowing him to  
starve miserably4  ,but the step which  
,feuerbach did not make had not yet been
 made4 ,the cultus of man in the        
abstract which was the kernel of        
,feuerbach's religion must be replaced  
by the knowledge of real men and their  
historical development4 ,this advance of
 ,feuerbach's view beyond ,feuerbach    
himself was published in #ahde by ,marx 
in the ,holy ,family4     ,,iv4         
,strauss1 ,bauer1 ,stirner1 ,feuerbach1 
these were the minor representatives of 
the ,hegelian philosophy1 so far as they
 did not abandon the field of           
philosophy4 ,strauss has1 in addition to
 the ,life of ,jesus and ,dogmatics1    
only produced philosophical and         

ecclesiastical historical work of a     
literary character1 after the fashion of
 ,renan2 ,bauer has merely done         
something in the department of primitive
 ,christianity1 but that significant2   
,stirner remained a freak even after    
,bakunine had mixed him with ,proudhon  
and designated his amalgamation         
,anarchism4 ,feuerbach alone possessed  
any significance as a philosopher2 but  
not only did philosophy remain for him  
the vaunted superior of all other       
sciences1 the quintessence of all       
science1 an impassable limitation1 the  
untouchable holy thing1 he stood as a   
composite philosopher2 the under half of
 him was materialist1 the upper half    
idealist4 ,he was not an apt critic of  
,hegel but simply put him aside as of no
 account1 while he himself1 in          
comparison with the encyclopedic wealth 
of the ,hegelian system1 contributed    
nothing of any positive value1 except a 
bombastic religion of love and a thin1  
impotent system of ethics4  ,but from   

the breaking up of the ,hegelian school 
there proceeded another1 the only one   
which has borne real fruit1 and this    
tendency is coupled with the name of    
,marx4#b  ,in this case the separation  
from the ,hegelian philosophy occurred  
by means of a return to the             
materialistic standpoint1 that is to    
say1 a determination to comprehend the  
actual world--nature and history--as it 
presents itself to each one of us1      
without any preconceived idealistic     
balderdash interfering2 it was resolved 
to pitilessly sacrifice any idealistic  
preconceived notion which could not be  
brought into harmony with facts actually
 discovered in their mutual relations1  
and without any visionary notions4 ,and 
materialism in general claims no more4  
,only here1 for the first time in the   
history of the materialistic philosophy1
 was an earnest endeavor made to carry  
its results to all questions arising in 
the realm of knowledge1 at least in its 
characteristic features4  ,hegel was not

 merely put on one side1 the school     
attached itself on the contrary to his  
openly revolutionary side1 the dialectic
 method4 ,but this method was of no     
service in its ,hegelian form4          
,according to ,hegel the dialectic is   
the self-development of the ,idea4 ,the 
,absolute ,idea does not only exist from
 eternity1 but it is also the actual    
living soul of the whole existing world4
 ,it develops from itself to itself     
through all the preliminary stages which
 are treated of at large in ,logic1 and 
which are all included in it4 ,then it  
steps outside of itself1 changing with  
nature itself1 where it1 without        
self-consciousness1 is disguised as a   
necessity of nature1 goes through a new 
development1 and1 finally1 in man       
himself1 becomes self-consciousness4    
,this self-consciousness now works      
itself out into the higher stages from  
the lower forms of matter1 until finally
 the ,absolute ,idea is again realized  
in the ,hegelian philosophy4 ,according 

to ,hegel1 the dialectic development    
apparent in nature and history1 that is 
a causative1 connected progression from 
the lower to the higher1 in spite of all
 zig-zag movements and momentary        
setbacks1 is only the stereotype of the 
self-progression of the ,idea from      
eternity1 whither one does not know1 but
 independent at all events of the       
thought of any human brain4 ,this       
topsy-turvy ideology had to be put      
aside4 ,we conceived of ideas as        
materialistic1 as pictures of real      
things1 instead of real things as       
pictures of this or that stage of the   
,absolute ,idea4 ,thereupon1 the        
dialectic became reduced to knowledge of
 the universal laws of motion--as well  
of the outer world as of the thought of 
man--two sets of laws which are         
identical as far as matter is concerned 
but which differ as regards expression1 
in so far as the mind of man can employ 
them consciously1 while1 in nature1 and 
up to now1 in human history1 for the    

most part they accomplish themselves1   
unconsciously in the form of external   
necessity1 through an endless succession
 of apparent accidents4 ,hereupon the   
dialectic of the ,idea became itself    
merely the conscious reflex of the      
dialectic evolution of the real world1  
and therefore1 the dialectic of ,hegel  
was turned upside down or rather it was 
placed upon its feet instead of on its  
head1 where it was standing before4 ,and
 this materialistic dialectic which     
since that time has been our best tool  
and our sharpest weapon was discovered1 
not by us alone1 but by a ,german       
workman1 ,joseph ,dietzgen1 in a        
remarkable manner and utterly           
independent of us4  ,but just here the  
revolutionary side of ,hegel's          
philosophy was again taken up1 and at   
the same time freed from the idealistic 
frippery which had in ,hegel's hands    
interfered with its necessary           
conclusions4 ,the great fundamental     
thought1 namely1 that the world is not  

to be considered as a complexity of     
ready-made things1 but as a complexity  
made up of processes in which the       
apparently stable things1 no less than  
the thought pictures in the brain--the  
idea1 cause an unbroken chain of coming 
into being and passing away1 in which1  
by means of all sorts of seeming        
accidents1 and in spite of all momentary
 setbacks1 there is carried out in the  
end a progressive development--this     
great foundation thought has1           
particularly since the time of ,hegel1  
so dominated the thoughts of the mass of
 men that1 generally speaking1 it is now
 hardly denied4 ,but to acknowledge it  
in phrases1 and to apply it in reality  
to each particular set of conditions    
which come up for examination1 are two  
different matters4 ,but if one proceeds 
steadily in his investigations from this
 historic point1 then a stop is put1    
once and for all1 to the demand for     
final solutions and for eternal truths2 
one is firmly conscious of the necessary

 limitations of all acquired knowledge1 
of its hypothetical nature1 owing to the
 circumstances under which it has been  
gained4 ,one cannot be imposed upon any 
longer by the inflated insubstantial    
antitheses of the older metaphysics of  
true and false1 good and evil1 identical
 and differentiated1 necessary and      
accidental2 one knows that these        
antitheses have only a relative         
significance1 that that which is        
recognized as true now1 has its         
concealed and later-developing false    
side1 just as that which is recognized  
as false1 its true side1 by virtue of   
which it can later on prevail as the    
truth2 that so-called necessity is made 
up of the merely accidental1 and that   
the acknowledged accidental is the form 
behind which necessity conceals itself  
and so on4  ,the old methods of enquiry 
and thought which ,hegel terms          
metaphysics1 which by preference busied 
themselves by enquiring into things as  
given and established quantities1 and   

the vestiges of which still buzz in the 
heads of people1 had at that time great 
historical justification4 ,things had   
first to be examined1 before it was     
possible to examine processes2 man must 
first know what a thing was before he   
could examine the preceding changes in  
it4 ,and so it was with natural science4
 ,the old metaphysic which comprehended 
things as stable came from a philosophy 
which enquired into dead and living     
things as things comprehended as stable4
 ,but when this enquiry had so far      
progressed that the decisive step was   
possible1 namely1 the systematic        
examination of the preceding changes in 
those things going on in nature itself1 
then occurred the death-blow of the old 
metaphysics in the realm of philosophy4 
,and1 in fact1 if science to the end of 
the last century was chiefly a          
collecting of knowledge1 the science of 
actual things1 so is science in our day 
pre-eminently an arranging of knowledge1
 the science of changes1 of the origin  

and progress of things1 and the mutual  
connection which binds these changes in 
nature into one great whole4            
,physiology1 which examines the earlier 
forms of plant and animal organisms2    
embryology1 which deals with the        
development of the elementary organism  
from germ to maturity2 geology1 which   
investigates the gradual formation of   
the earth's crust1 are all the products 
of our century4  ,but1 first of all1    
there are three great discoveries which 
have caused our knowledge of the        
interdependence of the processes of     
nature to progress by leaps and bounds4 
,in the first place1 the discovery of   
the cell1 as the unit1 from the         
multiplication and differentiation of   
which1 the whole of plant and animal    
substance develop so that not only the  
growth and development of all higher    
classes of all higher organisms is      
recognized as following a universal law1
 but the very path is shown in the      
capacity for differentiation in the     

cell1 by which organisms are enabled to 
change their forms and make thereby a   
more individual development4 ,secondly1 
the metamorphosis of energy which has   
shown us that all the so-called real    
forces in inorganic nature1 the         
mechanical forces and their complements1
 the so-called potential energies1 heat1
 radiation 7light1 radiating heat71     
electricity1 magnetism1 chemical energy1
 are different forms of universal       
motion1 which pass1 under certain       
conditions1 the one into the other1 so  
that in place of those of the one which 
disappear1 a certain number of the other
 appear1 so that the whole movement of  
nature is reduced to this perpetual     
process of transformation from one into 
the other4 ,finally1 the proof first    
developed logically by ,darwin1 that the
 organic products of nature about us1   
including man1 are the result of a long 
process of evolution1 from a few        
original single cells1 and these again1 
by virtue of chemical processes1 have   

proceeded from protoplasm or white of   
egg4  ,thanks to these three great      
discoveries and the resultant powerful  
advance of science1 we have now arrived 
at a point where we can show the        
connection between changes in nature1   
not only in specific cases1 but also in 
the relation of the specific cases to   
the whole and so give a bird's eye view 
of the interrelation of nature in an    
approximately scientific form by means  
of the facts shown by empirical science 
itself4 ,to furnish this complete       
picture was formerly the task of the    
so-called philosophy of nature4 ,it     
could then only do this by substituting 
ideal and imaginary hypotheses for the  
unknown real interconnection1 by filling
 out the missing facts with             
mind-pictures and by bridging the chasms
 by empty imaginings4 ,it had many happy
 thoughts in these transports 7of       
imagination71 it anticipated many later 
discoveries1 but it also caused the     
survival of considerable nonsense up to 

the present time which could not        
otherwise have been possible4 ,at       
present1 when the results of the        
investigation of nature need only be    
conceived of dialectically1 that is in  
the sense of their mutual               
interconnection1 to arrive at a system  
of nature sufficient for our time1 when 
the dialectical character of this       
interconnection forces itself into the  
metaphysically trained minds of         
experimental scientists1 against their  
will1 today a philosophy of nature is   
finally disposed of1 every attempt at   
its resurrection would not only be      
superfluous1 it would even be a step    
backwards4  ,but what is true of nature1
 which is hereby recognized as an       
historical process1 is true also of the 
history of society in all its branches1 
and of the totality of all sciences     
which occupy themselves with things     
human and divine4 ,here also the        
philosophy of jurisprudence1 of history1
 of religion1 etc41 consisted in this1  

that in place of the true               
interconnection of events1 one          
originating in the mind of the          
philosopher was substituted2 that       
history1 in its totality as in its      
parts1 was comprehended as the gradual  
realization of ideas1 but1 of course1   
always of the pet idea of the           
philosopher himself4  ,history worked up
 to now1 unconsciously but necessarily1 
towards a certain predetermined1 fixed1 
ideal goal1 as for example in the case  
of ,hegel1 towards the realization of   
his ,absolute ,idea1 and the unalterable
 trend towards this ,absolute ,idea     
constituted the inward connection of    
historic facts4 ,in the place of the    
real1 and up to this time unknown1      
interrelation1 man set a new mysterious 
destiny1 unconscious or gradually coming
 into consciousness4 ,it was necessary  
in this case1 therefore1 just as in the 
realm of nature1 to set aside these     
artificial interrelations by the        
discovery of the real1 a task which     

finally culminated in the discovery of  
the universal laws of progress1 which   
established themselves as the dominating
 ones in the history of human society4  
,the history of the growth of society   
appears1 however1 in one respect        
entirely different from that of nature4 
,in nature are to be found as far as we 
leave the reaction of man upon nature   
out of sight--mere unconscious blind    
agents which act one upon another1 and  
in their interplay the universal law    
realizes itself4 ,from all that happens1
 whether from the innumerable apparent  
accidents which appear upon the surface1
 or from the final results flowing from 
these accidental occurrences1 nothing   
occurs as a desired conscious end4 ,on  
the contrary1 in the history of society 
the mere actors are all endowed with    
consciousness2 they are agents imbued   
with deliberation or passion1 men       
working towards an appointed end2       
nothing appears without an intentional  
purpose1 without an end desired4 ,but   

this distinction1 important as it is for
 historical examination1 particularly of
 single epochs and events1 can make no  
difference to the fact that the course  
of history is governed by inner         
universal laws4 ,here also1 in spite of 
the wished for aims of all the separate 
individuals1 accident for the most part 
is apparent on the surface4 ,that which 
is willed but rarely happens4 ,in the   
majority of instances the numerous      
desired ends cross and interfere with   
each other1 and either these ends are   
utterly incapable of realization1 or the
 means are ineffectual4 ,so1 the        
innumerable conflicts of individual     
wills and individual agents in the realm
 of history reach a conclusion which is 
on the whole analogous to that in the   
realm of nature1 which is without       
definite purpose4 ,the ends of the      
actions are intended1 but the results   
which follow from the actions are not   
intended1 or in so far as they appear to
 correspond with the end desired1 in    

their final results are quite different 
from the conclusion wished4 ,historical 
events in their entirety therefore      
appear to be likewise controlled by     
chance4 ,but even where according to    
superficial observation1 accident plays 
a part1 it is1 as a matter of fact1     
consistently governed by unseen1        
internal laws1 and the only question    
remaining1 therefore1 is to discover    
these laws4  ,men make their own history
 in that each follows his own desired   
ends independent of results1 and the    
results of these many wills acting in   
different directions and their manifold 
effects upon the world constitute       
history4 ,it depends1 therefore1 upon   
what the great majority of individuals  
intend4 ,the will is determined by      
passion or reflection1 but the levers   
which passion or reflection immediately 
apply are of very different kinds4      
,sometimes it may be external           
circumstances1 sometimes ideal motives1 
zeal for honor1 enthusiasm for truth and

 justice1 personal hate1 or even purely 
individual peculiar ideas of all kinds4 
,but on the one hand1 we have seen in   
history that the results of many        
individual wills produce effects1 for   
the most part quite other than what is  
wished--often1 in fact1 the very        
opposite--their motives of action1      
likewise1 are only of subordinate       
significance with regard to the         
universal result4 ,on the other hand1   
the question arises3 ,what driving      
forces stand in turn behind these       
motives of action2 what are the         
historical causes which transform       
themselves into motives of action in the
 brains of the agents8  ,the old        
materialism never set this question     
before itself4 ,its philosophy of       
history1 as far as it ever had one in   
particular1 is hence essentially        
pragmatic2 it judges everything from the
 standpoint of the immediate motive2 it 
divides historical agents into good and 
bad and finds as a whole that the good  

are defrauded and the bad are           
victorious1 whence it follows that1 as  
far as the old materialism is concerned1
 there is nothing edifying that can be  
obtained from a study of history1 and   
for us1 that in the realm of history the
 old materialism is proved to be false1 
since it fixes active ideal impulses as 
final causes instead of seeking that    
which lies behind them1 that which is   
the impulse of these impulses4 ,the lack
 of logical conclusion does not lie in  
the fact that ideal impulses are        
recognized1 but in this1 that there is  
no further examination into the more    
remote causes of their activity4 ,the   
philosophy of history1 on the contrary1 
particularly as it was treated by       
,hegel1 recognizes that the ostensible  
and even the real motives of the men who
 figure in history1 are by no means the 
final causes of historical events1 that 
behind these events stand other moving  
forces which must be discovered2 but it 
seeks these forces not in history       

itself1 it imports them mostly from the 
outside1 from philosophical ideology1   
into history4 ,instead of explaining the
 history of ancient ,greece from its own
 inner connection1 ,hegel1 for example1 
explains it solely as if it were nothing
 but the working out of a beautiful     
individuality1 the realization of art1  
as such4 ,he says much about the old    
,greeks that is fine and profound1 but  
this does not prevent our               
dissatisfaction1 now-a-days1 with such  
an explanation1 which is mere           
phraseology4  ,if1 therefore1 we set out
 to discover the impelling forces1      
which1 acknowledged1 or unacknowledged1 
and for the most part unacknowledged1   
stand behind historical figures1 and    
constitute the true final impulses of   
history1 we cannot consider so much the 
motives of single individuals1 however  
pre-eminent1 as those which set in      
motion great masses1 entire nations1 and
 again1 whole classes of people in each 
nation1 and this1 too1 not in a         

momentarily flaring and quickly dying   
flame1 but to enduring action           
culminating in a great historical       
change4 ,to establish the great         
impelling forces which play upon the    
brains of the acting masses and their   
leaders1 the so-called great men1 as    
conscious motives1 clear or unclear1    
directly or ideologically or even in a  
supernatural form1 that is the only     
method which can place us on the track  
of the law controlling history as a     
whole1 as well as at particular periods 
and in individual lands4 ,all that sets 
men in motion must act upon their minds1
 but the force which acts upon the brain
 depends very largely upon              
circumstances4 ,the workers have by no  
means become reconciled to the machine  
power of the capitalists although they  
no longer break the machines to pieces  
as they did on the ,rhine in #ahdh4     
,but while the discovery of these       
impelling forces of history was entirely
 impossible in all other periods1 on    

account of the complicated and hidden   
interrelations with their effects1 our  
present period has so far simplified    
these relations that the problem can be 
solved4 ,since the establishment of the 
great industry1 at least since the peace
 of ,europe in #ahae1 it has been no    
longer a secret to anyone in ,england   
that the whole political fight has been 
for supremacy between two classes1 the  
landed aristocracy and the middle-class4
 ,in ,france1 with the return of the    
,bourbons1 the same fact was perceived2 
the writers of history1 from ,thierry to
 ,guizot1 ,mignet1 and ,thiers in       
particular1 pronounce it as a key to an 
understanding of ,french history1       
especially since the ,middle ,ages4 ,and
 since #ahcj the working class1 the     
proletariat1 has been recognized as the 
third competitor for mastery in both    
countries4 ,circumstances had become so 
simplified that one would have had to   
close his eyes not to see in the fight  
of these three classes and in the       

conflict of their interests1 the moving 
forces of modern history1 at least in   
the two most advanced countries4  ,but  
how came these classes into existence8  
,if the great feudal ancient property in
 land can have its origin ascribed to   
political causes through forcible       
seizure of territories1 this could not  
be done as regards the bourgeoisie and  
the proletariat4 ,there are in this case
 clearly exposed the origin and progress
 of two great economic classes from     
plain and evident economic causes4 ,and 
it was just as clear that in the fight  
between the landholding class and the   
bourgeoisie1 no less than in that       
between the bourgeoisie and the         
proletariat1 economic interests were the
 most important1 and that political     
force served only as a mere means of    
furthering these4  ,the bourgeoisie and 
the proletariat both arose as results of
 a change in economic conditions1 or1   
strictly speaking1 in methods of        
production4 ,the transition1 first from 

hand labor1 controlled by the gilds1 to 
manufacture and thence from manufacture 
to the greater industry1 with steam and 
machine force1 has developed these two  
classes4 ,at a certain stage new forces 
of production were set in motion by the 
bourgeoisie1 following upon the division
 of labor and the union of many         
different kinds of labor in one united  
manufacture1 and the methods of exchange
 and requirements of exchange developed 
by their means1 were incompatible with  
the existing historical surviving       
methods of production consecrated by the
 law1 that is to say the gilds and the  
innumerable personal and other          
privileges 7which for the unprivileged  
were only so many fetters7 of the feudal
 social organization4 ,the forces of    
production brought into being by the    
bourgeoisie rebelled against the methods
 of production originated by the        
gildmasters and the feudal landlords2   
the result is known2 the feudal fetters 
were struck off1 in ,england gradually1 

in ,france at one blow2 in ,germany the 
process is not yet quite complete4 ,as  
manufacture came into conflict at a     
certain stage of progress with feudal   
methods of production1 so has the       
greater industry now joined battle with 
the bourgeois organization of industry  
established in their place4 ,bound by   
this system1 owing to the narrow limits 
of the capitalistic methods of          
production1 there occurs on the one hand
 an ever increasing conversion of the   
mass of the people into proletarians1   
and on the other hand an ever increasing
 amount of products which cannot be     
disposed of4 ,over-production1 and      
suffering on the part of the masses1 the
 one the cause of the other1 that is the
 absurd contradiction in which it runs  
its course1 and which of necessity      
requires a control of the forces of     
production1 through a change in the     
methods of production4  ,in modern      
history1 at least1 it is therefore      
proved that all political contests are  

class contests and that all fights of   
classes for emancipation1 in spite of   
their necessarily political form 7for   
every class struggle is a political     
struggle71 finally1 are directed towards
 economic emancipation4 ,here1 at least1
 therefore1 the ,state1 the political   
arrangement is the subordinate1         
bourgeois society1 the rule of economic 
relations1 the deciding element4 ,the   
old fashioned philosophy which even     
,hegel respected saw in the ,state the  
determining element and in bourgeois    
society the element determined by it4   
,appearances corresponded with this     
idea4 ,as all the impulses of each      
single agent pass through his individual
 brain and must transform themselves    
into motives of his will in order to set
 him to work1 so must also the desires  
of bourgeois society1 no matter which   
class happens to be dominant1 penetrate 
the will of the state in order to secure
 universal validity in the form of laws4
 ,that is the formal side of the matter 

which is self evident1 the question only
 is what content has this merely formal 
will--of the individual as well as of   
the ,state--and whence comes this       
content--why is just this desired and   
nothing else8 ,and if we enquire into   
this we discover that in modern history 
the will of the ,state1 as a whole1 is  
declared through the changing needs of  
bourgeois society1 through the          
domination of this or that class1 in the
 last instance through the development  
of the forces of production and the     
conditions of exchange4  ,but if in our 
modern times1 with their gigantic       
methods of production and commerce1 the 
,state is not an independent affair with
 an independent development1 but its    
existence as well as its evolution is to
 be explained in the last resort from   
the economic conditions of the life of  
society1 so much the more must the same 
thing be true of all earlier times when 
the production of the necessities of    
existence was not furthered by these    

extensive aids1 where1 therefore1 the   
necessities of this production must     
exercise a greater control over men4 ,if
 the ,state is today1 at the time of the
 great industries and steam railways1   
merely1 as a whole1 the summarized1     
reflected form of the economic desires  
of the class which controls production1 
it must1 therefore1 have been still more
 so at a period when a generation of men
 must spend the greater portion of their
 united life-time in the satisfaction of
 their material needs1 and man was1     
therefore1 much more dependent on them  
than we are today4 ,the examination of  
the earlier epochs of history1 as far as
 it is earnestly conducted in this      
direction1 establishes this abundantly1 
but manifestly this cannot here be taken
 in hand4  ,if the ,state and public law
 are the creatures of economic          
conditions1 so1 obviously1 is private   
law1 which only sanctions relations     
between individuals under given normal  
economic circumstances4 ,the form in    

which this appears may1 however1 vary   
considerably4 ,one can1 as happened in  
,england in accordance with the whole   
national development1 retain1 for the   
most part1 the forms of the old feudal  
law1 and give them a middle-class       
content1 even read a middle-class       
meaning into the feudal names1 but one  
may also1 as in the western part of the 
,european continent1 use as a foundation
 the first general law of a society     
producing commodities1 the ,roman1 with 
its unsurpassably keen elaboration1 of  
all the legal relations of possessions  
of commodities 7sellers and buyers1     
creditors and debtors1 contracts1       
obligations1 etc471 by which we can     
bring it down as common-law to the use  
and benefit of a still small bourgeois  
and half feudal society2 or1 with the   
help of pseudo-enlightened and          
moralizing jurists1 a code 7which is bad
 from a legal point of view7 can be     
worked out suitable to the conditions of
 the particular society 7as the         

,prussian land law74 ,and1 still again1 
after a great bourgeois revolution1 a   
classical code for bourgeois society1   
such as the ,french ,code ,civil1 may be
 worked out4 ,if1 therefore1 the        
bourgeois laws only declare the economic
 circumstances of society1 these may be 
good or bad according to conditions4    
,in the ,state appears the first        
ideological force over men4 ,society    
shapes for itself an organ for the      
protection of its general interests     
against attack from the outside or      
inside4 ,this organ is the force of the 
,state4 ,hardly did it come into being  
before this organ dominated society1 and
 as a matter of fact1 in proportion as  
it becomes the organ of a particular    
class1 it brings into existence the     
supremacy of that class4 ,the fight of  
the subject against the dominant class  
becomes of necessity political1 a fight 
in the next place against the political 
control of this latter class4 ,this     
consciousness of the connection of the  

political fight with its underlying     
economic causes becomes more and more   
obscure and may be altogether lost4     
,where this is not altogether the case  
with the combatants it becomes nearly   
altogether so with the historians4 ,of  
the ancient sources of history with     
regard to the contest within the ,roman 
,republic1 ,appian alone gives us plain 
and clear information respecting its    
final cause1 which was property in land4
 ,but the ,state1 once become an        
independent power over society1         
forthwith displayed a further ideology4 
,among the practical politicians and the
 theorists in jurisprudence1 and among  
the jurists in particular1 this fact is 
first completely lost sight of4 ,since  
in each single instance the economic    
facts must take the form of juristic    
motives so as to be sanctioned in the   
form of law1 and since1 therefore1 a    
backward view must be taken over the    
whole existing system of law1 it follows
 therefrom that the juristic form       

appears to be the whole and the economic
 content nothing at all4 ,public and    
private law are considered as           
independent realms which have their own 
independent historic evolution1 which   
are considered capable of a systematic  
representation1 and stand in need of it 
through persistent elimination of all   
inner contradictions4  ,still higher    
ideological conceptions1 i4 e41 still   
further removed from the economic       
foundations1 take the form of philosophy
 and religion4 ,here1 the connection of 
the ideas with the material conditions  
of existence become more and more       
complicated and obscured by reason of   
the increasing number of links between  
them1 but it exists4 ,as the whole      
,rennaissance from the middle of the    
fifteenth century was an actual product 
of the city1 and therefore of the       
bourgeois domination1 so was also the   
philosophy1 since that time newly       
awakened4 ,its content was actually only
 the philosophical expression of the    

thoughts corresponding with the         
development of the small and middle     
bourgeois into the great bourgeois4     
,among the ,english and ,french of the  
preceding century1 who were for the most
 part as good political economists as   
they were philosophers1 this is quite   
evident1 and we have proofs on its very 
face1 as regards the ,hegelian school4  
,let us now give a slight glance at     
religion since it appears to stand      
furthest away from and to be most       
foreign to material life4 ,religion     
arose at a very remote period of human  
development1 in the savage state1 from  
certain erroneous and barbaric          
conceptions of men with regard to       
themselves and the outside world of     
nature around them4 ,every ideological  
notion develops1 however1 when once it  
has arisen2 it grows by additions to the
 given idea1 and develops it further1   
otherwise there would be no ideology1   
that is1 no occupation with thoughts as 
with independent thought-existence1     

developing independently and subject    
only to its own laws4 ,that the material
 conditions of life of the men within   
whose heads this thought force is at    
work finally determine the course of    
this thought-process necessarily remains
 still unknown to these men1 otherwise  
there would be an entire end of the     
ideology4 ,these original religious     
notions1 therefore1 which are for the   
most part common to each kindred group  
of peoples1 develop after the separation
 of the group in a special manner       
peculiar to each tribe1 according to its
 particular conditions of existence1 and
 this process is for a class of groups  
of people1 and particularly for the     
,aryans 7,indo-,europeans7 shown        
individually by comparative mythology4  
,the gods developed by each tribe were  
national gods1 whose power extended no  
further than to protect the national    
territory2 beyond the frontier other    
gods held undisputed sway4 ,they could  
only be conceived of as existing as long

 as the nation existed4 ,they fell with 
its decline4 ,this doctrine of the old  
nationalities brought about the ,roman  
,empire1 whose economic conditions we do
 not need to examine just now4 ,the old 
national gods fell1 as those of the     
,romans did also1 which were only       
attached to the narrow limits of the    
city of ,rome4 ,the desire to make the  
empire a world-empire1 by means of a    
world-wide religion1 is clearly shown in
 the attempts to provide recognition and
 altars in ,rome for all the respectable
 foreign gods1 next to the indigenous   
ones4 ,but a new world-religion was not 
to be made in this fashion by imperial  
decrees4 ,the new world-religion1       
,christianity1 had already arisen in    
secret by a mixture of combined oriental
 religions1 ,jewish theology and        
popularized ,greek philosophy and       
particularly ,stoic philosophy4 ,we must
 first be at the pains to discover how  
it originally made its appearance1 since
 its official form as it has come to us 

is merely that of a ,state religion1 and
 this end was achieved through the      
,council of ,nice4 ,enough1 the fact    
that after two hundred and fifty years  
it was a state religion shows that it   
was a religion answering to the         
circumstances of the times4 ,in the     
,middle ,ages it showed itself clearly4 
,in proportion as feudalism developed it
 grew into a religion corresponding with
 it1 with a hierarchy corresponding to  
the feudal4 ,and when the rule of the   
bourgeois came in1 it developed into    
,protestant heresy in antagonism to     
feudal ,catholicism1 at first in the    
,south of ,france1 among the ,albigenses
 at the time of the highest growth of   
the free cities4 ,the ,middle ,ages had 
annexed all the surviving forms of      
ideology1 philosophy1 politics and      
jurisprudence1 to theology as           
subordinate parts of theology4 ,it      
constrained1 therefore1 all social and  
political movement to assume a          
theological form2 finally1 to the minds 

of the masses stuffed with religion it  
was necessary to show their interests in
 religious guise1 in order to raise a   
tremendous storm4 ,and as the rule of   
the bourgeois from the beginning brought
 into being an appendage of propertyless
 plebeians1 with day laborers and       
servants of all sorts1 without any      
recognized position in their cities1 the
 forerunners of the later proletarians1 
so the heresy was very early subdivided 
into a moderate one1 on the part of the 
citizens1 and a plebeian revolutionary  
one1 which was an abomination to the    
bourgeois heretics4  ,the failure to    
exterminate the protestant heresy       
corresponded with the invincibility of  
the rising power of the bourgeois of    
that time2 as this power grew1 the fight
 with the feudal nobles1 at first       
pre-eminently local1 began to assume    
national proportions4 ,the first great  
conflict occurred in ,germany1 the      
so-called ,reformation4 ,the power of   
the bourgeois was neither sufficiently  

strong nor sufficiently developed for an
 open rebellious stand1 by uniting under
 the standard of revolt the city        
plebeians1 the smaller nobility1 and the
 peasants of the country districts4 ,the
 nobility was struck first1 the peasants
 took up a position which was the       
high-water mark of the entire           
revolution1 the cities left them in the 
lurch1 and so the revolution was left to
 the leaders of the country gentry who  
gathered the whole victory to           
themselves4 ,thenceforth for three      
hundred years ,germany disappeared from 
the ranks of independent1 energetic     
progressive countries4 ,but after the   
,german ,luther1 arose the ,french      
,calvin4 ,with natural ,french acuteness
 he showed the bourgeois character of   
the revolution in the ,church1          
republicanised and democratised4 ,while 
the ,lutheran ,reformation fell in      
,germany and ,germany declined1 the     
,calvinistic served as a standard to the
 republicans in ,geneva1 in ,holland1 in

 ,scotland1 freed ,holland from ,german 
and ,spanish domination1 and gave an    
ideological dress to the second act of  
the bourgeois revolution which proceeded
 in ,england4 ,here ,calvinism proved   
itself to be the natural religious garb 
of the interests of the existing rule of
 the bourgeois and was not realised any 
further than that the revolution of     
#afhi was completed by a compromise     
between a portion of the nobility and   
the middle-class4 ,the ,english         
,established ,church was restored1 but  
not in its earlier form with the king   
for ,pope1 but was strongly infused with
 ,calvinism4 ,the old-established       
,church had kept up the merry ,catholic 
,sunday and fought against the tedious  
,calvinistic one1 the new bourgeois     
,church introduced the latter and added 
thereby to the charms of ,england4  ,in 
,france the ,calvinistic minority was   
subdued in #afhe1 either made ,catholic 
or hunted out of the country4 ,but what 
was the good8 ,directly after that the  

free thinker ,pierre ,bayle was at work1
 and in #afid ,voltaire was born4 ,the  
tyrannical rule of ,louis ,,xiv4 only   
made it easier for the ,french          
bourgeoisie to be able to make its      
revolution in the political form finally
 suitable to the progressive atheistic  
bourgeoisie4 ,instead of ,protestants1  
free-thinkers took their seats in the   
,national ,assembly4 ,thereby           
,christianity entered upon the last lap 
of the race4 ,it had become incapable of
 serving a progressive class any further
 as the ideological clothing of its     
efforts1 it became more and more the    
exclusive possession of the dominant    
classes1 and these used it merely as a  
simple means of government to keep the  
lower classes in subjection4 ,so then   
each one of the different classes       
employed its own suitable religion1 the 
landholding squires catholic jesuitism  
or protestant orthodoxy1 the liberal and
 radical bourgeois rationalism1 and it  
makes no difference therefore whether   

people themselves believe in their      
respective religions or not4  ,thus we  
see religion once arisen contains       
material of tradition1 hence in all     
ideological matters religion is a great 
conservative force4 ,but the changes    
which take place in this material spring
 from class-conditions1 that is from the
 economic circumstances of the men who  
take these changes in hand4 ,and that is
 enough on this part of the subject4    
,it is only possible at this time to    
give a general sketch of the ,marxian   
philosophy of history1 and particularly 
as regards illustrations of it4 ,the    
proof is to be discovered in history    
itself1 and in this regard ,i may say   
plainly that it has been sufficiently   
furnished in other writings4 ,this      
philosophy1 however1 makes an end of    
philosophy in the realm of history1 just
 as the dialectic philosophy of nature  
renders every philosophy of nature      
useless or impossible4 ,practically     
there is no further need to devise      

interrelations but to discover them in  
facts rather4 ,instead of a philosophy  
forced from nature and history there    
remains then only the realm of pure     
thought--as far as any is left--the     
teaching of the laws of the thinking    
process itself1 logic and the dialectic4
  ,with the ,revolution of #ahdh        
educated ,germany delivered the         
challenge to theory and proceeded to    
action4 ,hand-labor dependent upon small
 production and manufacture was done    
away with by the great                  
industry--,germany again appeared in the
 world-market4 ,the new particularistic 
,germany1 at all events did away with   
the most crying anomalies1 which the    
rule of the petty states1 the remnants  
of feudalism and the bureaucratic       
economy1 had placed in the way of their 
development1 but just in proportion as  
speculation abandoned the studies of    
philosophers to attain its temple in the
 ,bourse1 that great theoretic thought  
which had been the glory of ,germany in 

the period of its deepest political     
humiliation1 the zeal for pure          
scientific progress1 irrespective of    
practical1 profitable results1 and of   
the disapproval of the police1 became   
lost in educated ,germany4 ,it is true  
that the ,german official natural       
science maintained its position1        
particularly in the field of individual 
discovery1 at the head of its time1 but 
now the ,american journal ,science      
justly remarks that the decisive        
advances in the matter of the broadest  
inclusive statement of the relations    
between single facts1 and the           
harmonising of them with law1 are making
 the greater headway in ,england1       
instead of1 as earlier1 in ,germany4    
,and with regard to the sciences of     
history1 philosophy included1 with the  
classical philosophy1 the old           
theoretical spirit1 with its            
carelessness of personal results1 first 
completely disappeared4 ,thoughtless    
eclecticism1 eager backward glances at a

 career1 and income down to the meanest 
sycophancy occupy their places4 ,the    
official representatives of this sort of
 science have become the open           
ideologists of the bourgeoisie and the  
existing state1 but at a time when they 
both stand in open antagonism to the    
working classes4  ,only among the       
working classes does the ,german        
devotion to abstract thought steadily   
continue to exist4 ,here it cannot be   
got rid of4 ,here we find no backward   
glances at a career1 at profit making1  
at kindly protection from the upper     
classes1 but on the contrary the more   
independent and unrestricted the path of
 science1 just so much the more does it 
find itself in accord with the interests
 and endeavors of the working class4    
,the new tendency1 which in the history 
of the development of labor made known  
the key to the understanding of the     
universal history of society addressed  
itself in the first place to the working
 class and found in them the ready      

acceptance which it neither sought nor  
expected from official science4 ,the    
,german working-class movement is the   
heir of the ,german classical           
philosophy4  ,,footnote3  #b ,it is     
incumbent upon me to make a personal    
explanation at this place4 ,people have 
lately referred to my share in this     
theory1 and so ,i can hardly refrain    
from saying a few words here in         
settlement of that particular matter4 ,i
 cannot deny that ,i had before and     
during my forty years' collaboration    
with ,marx a certain independent share  
not only in laying out the foundations1 
but more particularly in working out the
 theory4 ,but the greatest part of the  
leading essential thinking1 particularly
 in the realm of economics1 and         
especially its final sharp statement1   
belongs to ,marx alone4 ,what ,i        
contributed ,marx could quite readily   
have carried out without me with the    
exception of a pair of special          
applications4 ,what ,marx supplied1 ,i  

could not have readily brought4 ,marx   
stood higher1 saw further1 took a wider1
 clearer1 quicker survey than all of us4
 ,marx was a genius1 we others1 at the  
best1 talented4 ,without him the theory 
would not be what it is today1 by a long
 way4 ,it therefore rightly bears his   
name4     ,,appendix4  ,,marx ,,on      
,,feuerbach4  7,jotted down in ,brussels
 in the spring of #ahde47   ,i4  ,the   
chief lack of all materialistic         
philosophy up to the present1 including 
that of ,feuerbach1 is that the thing1  
the reality1 sensation is only conceived
 of under the form of the object which  
is presented to the eye1 but not as     
human sense-activity1 praxis1 not       
subjectively4 ,it therefore came about  
that the active side in opposition to   
materialism was developed from idealism1
 but only abstractly2 this was natural1 
since idealism does not recognize real  
tangible facts as such4 ,feuerbach is   
willing1 it is true1 to distinguish     
objects of sensation from objects       

existing in thought1 but he conceives of
 human activity itself not as objective 
activity4 ,he1 therefore1 in the ,wesen 
des ,christenthums1 regards only        
theoretical activity as generally human1
 while the praxis is conceived and fixed
 only in its disgusting form4   ,,ii4   
,the question if objective truth is     
possible to human thought is not a      
theoretical but a practical question4   
,in practice man must prove the truth1  
that is the reality and force in his    
actual thoughts4 ,the dispute as to the 
reality or non-reality of thought which 
separates itself1 the praxis1 is a      
purely scholastic question4   ,,iii4    
,the materialistic doctrine that men are
 the products of conditions and         
education1 different men therefore the  
products of other conditions and changed
 education1 forgets that circumstances  
may be altered by men and that the      
educator has himself to be educated4 ,it
 necessarily happens therefore that     
society is divided into two parts1 of   

which one is elevated above society     
7,robert ,owen for example74  ,the      
occurrence simultaneously of a change in
 conditions and human activity can only 
be comprehended and rationally          
understood as a revolutionary fact4     
,,iv4  ,feuerbach proceeds from a       
religious self-alienation1 the          
duplication of the world into a         
religious1 imaginary1 and a real world4 
,his work consists in the discovery of  
the material foundations of the         
religious world4 ,he overlooked the fact
 that after carrying this to completion 
the important matter still remains      
unaccomplished4 ,the fact that the      
material foundation annuls itself and   
establishes for itself a realm in the   
clouds can only be explained from the   
heterogeneity and self-contradiction of 
the material foundation4 ,this itself   
must first become understood in its     
contradictions and so become thoroughly 
revolutionized by the elimination of the
 contradiction4 ,after the earthly      

family has been discovered as the secret
 of the ,holy ,family1 one must have    
theoretically criticised and            
theoretically revolutionised it         
beforehand4   ,v4  ,feuerbach1 not      
satisfied with abstract thought1 invokes
 impressions produced by the senses1 but
 does not comprehend sensation as       
practical sensory activities4   ,,vi4   
,feuerbach dissolves religion in        
humanity4 ,but humanity is not an       
abstraction dwelling in each individual4
 ,in its reality it is the ensemble of  
the conditions of society4  ,feuerbach1 
who does not enquire into this fact1 is 
therefore compelled3  #a4 ,to abstract  
religious sentiment from the course of  
history1 to place it by itself1 and to  
pre-suppose an abstract1 isolated1 human
 individual4  #b4 ,humanity is therefore
 only comprehended by him as a species1 
as a hidden sort of merely natural      
identity of qualities in which many     
individuals are embraced4   ,,vii4      
,therefore ,feuerbach does not see that 

religious feeling is itself a product of
 society1 and that the abstract         
individual which he analyses belongs in 
reality to a certain form of society4   
,,viii4  ,the life of society is        
essentially practical4 ,all the         
mysteries which seduce speculative      
thought into mysticism find their       
solution in human practice and in       
concepts of this practice4   ,,ix4  ,the
 highest point to which materialism     
attains1 that is the materialism which  
comprehends sensation1 not as a         
practical fact1 is the point of view of 
the single individual in bourgeois      
society4   ,x4  ,the standpoint of the  
old materialism is bourgeois society2   
the standpoint of the new1 human        
society1 or associated humanity4   ,,xi4
  ,philosophers have only interpreted   
the world differently1 but the point is 
to change it4