Theses on Feuerbach
The "
Theses on Feuerbach" are eleven short
philosophical notes written by
Karl Marx in
1845. They outline a critique of the ideas of Marx's fellow
Young Hegelian philosopher
Ludwig Feuerbach. But the text is often seen as more ambitious than this, criticizing the contemplative
materialism of the
Young Hegelians alongside all forms of philosophical
idealism. The "Theses" identify political action as the only truth of philosophy, famously concluding: "Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it." (in the German original: "Die Philosophen haben die Welt nur verschieden interpretiert; es kommt aber darauf an, sie zu verändern.") While the text wishes to retain the
critical stance of
German critical idealism, it transposes that criticism into practical, material, political terms (leading directly to Marx's later assertion that the "criticism of weapons" must at some point do the work of the "weapons of criticism").
Marx did not publish the "Theses on Feuerbach" during his lifetime; they were later edited by Engels and published in 1888, with the original text emerging in 1924. They seem to have been intended as a note on principles which Marx wished to write out once, clearly, as a reminder to himself; the text may actually have been hung above his writing-desk.
References
See also: Karl Marx -- Marxism -- Marxist theory -- Marxist philosophy -- Ludwig Feuerbach -- Young Hegelians -- German Idealism -- materialism
External links