Western Philosophy 19th-century philosophy
Name:	Ludwig Feuerbach
Birth:	July 28, 1804 (Landshut, Germany)
Death:	September 13, 1872 (Rechenberg, Germany)
School/tradition:	Young Hegelians
Main interests:	Religion
Notable ideas:	Religion as the outward projection of man's inner nature
Influences:	Hegel
Influenced:	Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Joseph Dietzgen

This article refers to the philosopher. For the 19th-century German painter, see Anselm Feuerbach.

Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach (July 28, 1804 – September 13, 1872) was a German philosopher and anthropologist. He was the fourth son of the eminent jurist Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach. In the 18th century the philosophies of The Enlightenment would begin to have dramatic effect, and the landmark works of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau would have an electrifying effect on a new generation of thinkers. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (504x656, 106 KB) Ludwig Feuerbach is a german philosopher. ... July 28 is the 209th day (210th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 156 days remaining. ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Landshut is a city in Bavaria, Germany, the capital of the Niederbayern region. ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... Year 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Young Hegelians, later known as the Left Hegelians, were a group of students and young professors at the University of Berlin following Georg Hegels death in 1831. ... Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel [] (August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820, Wuppertal – August 5, 1895, London), a 19th-century German political philosopher, developed communist theory alongside his better-known collaborator, Karl Marx, co-authoring The Communist Manifesto (1848). ... Joseph Dietzgen (December 1828 - 1888) was a socialist philosopher and anarchist sympathizer. ... Anselm Feuerbach (September 12, 1829—January 4, 1880), German painter, born at Speyer, the son of a well-known archaeologist, was the leading classicist painter of the German 19th-century school. ... July 28 is the 209th day (210th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 156 days remaining. ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... Year 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... See Anthropology. ... Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach (November 14, 1775 - May 29, 1833), German legal scholar, originator of the famous maxim nullum crimen, nulla poena sine praevia lege poenali: No crime committed, and no punishment meted out, without a violation of penal law as it existed at the time. ...

Biography

Education

Feuerbach matriculated at the University of Heidelberg with the intention of pursuing an ecclesiastical career. Through the influence of Prof. Karl Daub he was led to an interest in the then predominant philosophy of Hegel and, in spite of his father's opposition, went to Berlin to study under the master himself. After two years' discipleship, the Hegelian influence began to slacken. Feuerbach became associated with a group known as the Young Hegelians, who synthesized a radical offshoot of Hegelian philosophy. "Theology," he wrote to a friend, "I can bring myself to study no more. I long to take nature to my heart, that nature before whose depth the faint-hearted theologian shrinks back; and with nature man, man in his entire quality." These words are a key to Feuerbach's development. He completed his education at Erlangen at the Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen-Nuremberg with the study of natural science. The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (German Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; also known as simply University of Heidelberg) was established in the town of Heidelberg in the Rhineland in 1386. ... Karl Daub (March 20, 1765 - November 22, 1836), was a German Protestant theologian. ... Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel [] (August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ... There is no institution called the University of Berlin, but there are four universities in Berlin, Germany: Humboldt University of Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin) Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin) Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der... The Young Hegelians, later known as the Left Hegelians, were a group of students and young professors at the University of Berlin following Georg Hegels death in 1831. ... Erlangen around 1915 Erlangen is a German city in Middle Franconia. ... The castle in the center of Erlangen, known to many simply as the Schloss, is home to a large part of the universitys administration Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen Nuremberg (FAU), founded in 1742, is Bavarias second largest state university with eleven faculties and 265 chairs. ... The lunar farside as seen from Apollo 11 Natural science is the rational study of the universe via rules or laws of natural order. ...

Early Writings

His first book, published anonymously, Gedanken über Tod und Unsterblichkeit (1830), contains an attack on personal immortality and an advocacy of the Spinozistic immortality of reabsorption in nature. These principles, combined with his embarrassed manner of public speaking, debarred him from academic advancement. After some years of struggling, during which he published his Geschichte der neueren Philosophie (2 vols., 1833-1837, 2nd ed. 1844), and Abelard und Heloise (1834, 3rd ed. 1877), he married in 1837 and lived a rural existence at Bruckberg near Nuremberg, supported by his wife's share in a small porcelain factory. Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution 1830 (MDCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2006-7-27, and may not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Benedictus de Spinoza or Baruch de Spinoza (Hebrew: ברוך שפינוזה) (lived November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Jewish origin, considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy and, by virtue of his magnum opus the posthumous Ethics, one of the definitive ethicists. ... 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Jan. ... 1834 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Bruckberg is a town in the district of Ansbach in Bavaria in Germany. ... Fine China redirects here. ...

In two works of this period, Pierre Bayle (1838) and Philosophie und Christentum (1839), which deal largely with theology, he held that he had proven "that Christianity has in fact long vanished not only from the reason but from the life of mankind, that it is nothing more than a fixed idea" in flagrant contradiction to the distinctive features of contemporary civilization. | Jöns Jakob Berzelius, discoverer of protein 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1839 (MDCCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Theology (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογια, logia, words, sayings, or discourse) is reasoned discourse concerning religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ...

Das Wesen des Christentums (The Essence of Christianity)

This attack is followed up in his most important work, Das Wesen des Christentums (1841), which was translated into English (The Essence of Christianity, by George Eliot, 1853, 2nd ed. 1881), French and Russian. Its aim may be described shortly as an effort to humanize theology. He lays it down that man, so far as he is rational, is to himself his own object of thought. 1841 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... George Eliots birthplace at South Farm, Arbury Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Religion is consciousness of the infinite. Religion therefore is "nothing else than the consciousness of the infinity of the consciousness; or, in the consciousness of the infinite, the conscious subject has for his object the infinity of his own nature." Thus God is nothing else than man: he is, so to speak, the outward projection of man's inward nature. This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

Feuerbach's theme was a derivation of Hegel's speculative theology in which the Creation remains a part of the Creator, while the Creator remains greater than the Creation. When the student Feuerbach presented his own theory to professor Hegel, Hegel refused to reply positively to it. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ...

In part I of his book Feuerbach develops what he calls the "true or anthropological essence of religion." Treating of God in his various aspects "as a being of the understanding," "as a moral being or law," "as love" and so on, Feuerbach shows that in every aspect God corresponds to some feature or need of human nature. "If man is to find contentment in God," he claims, "he must find himself in God." In part 2 he discusses the "false or theological essence of religion," i.e. the view which regards God as having a separate existence over against man. Hence arise various mistaken beliefs, such as the belief in revelation which he believes not only injures the moral sense, but also "poisons, nay destroys, the divinest feeling in man, the sense of truth," and the belief in sacraments such as the Lord's Supper, which is to him a piece of religious materialism of which "the necessary consequences are superstition and immorality." In Christian belief and practice, a sacrament is a rite that mediates divine grace, constituting a sacred mystery. ... The Lords Supper is a variation of the name and the service of The Last Supper or Eucharist. ...

In spite of what many regard as a high style and matter the Essence of Christianity has never made much impression upon thought outside Germany. Feuerbach's treatment of the actual forms of religion as expressions of our various human needs is fatally vitiated by his subjectivism. Feuerbach denied that he was rightly called an atheist, but the denial is merely verbal: what he calls "theism" is atheism in the ordinary sense. Feuerbach labours under the same difficulty as Fichte; both thinkers strive in vain to reconcile the religious consciousness with subjectivism. This article is in need of attention. ... The 18th-century French author Baron dHolbach was one of the first self-described atheists. ... Immanuel Hermann von Fichte (July 18, 1797 - August 8, 1879), German philosopher, son of J.G. Fichte, was born at Jena. ...

A caustic criticism of Feuerbach was delivered in 1844 by Max Stirner. In his book Der Einzige und sein Eigentum (The Ego and His Own) he attacked Feuerbach as inconsistent in his atheism. The pertinent portions of the books, Feuerbach's reply, and Stirner's counter-reply form an instructive polemics. (see External Links) This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Ego and Its Own (org. ...

After "1848"

During the troubles of 1848-1849 Feuerbach's attack upon orthodoxy made him something of a hero with the revolutionary party; but he never threw himself into the political movement, and indeed had not the qualities of a popular leader. During the period of the Frankfurt Congress he had given public lectures on religion at Heidelberg. When the diet closed he withdrew to Bruckberg and occupied himself partly with scientific study, partly with the composition of his Theogonie (1857). // Preliminaries Germany at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 was a collection of over 30 states loosely bound together in the German Confederation after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. ... The word orthodoxy, from the Greek ortho (right, correct) and doxa (thought, teaching, glorification), is typically used to refer to the correct theological or doctrinal observance of religion, as determined by some overseeing body. ... The Frankfurt Parliament is the name of the German National Assembly founded during the Revolutions of 1848 that tried to unite Germany in a democratic way. ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1860 he was compelled by the failure of the porcelain factory to leave Bruckberg, and he would have suffered the extremity of want but for the assistance of friends supplemented by a public subscription. His last book, Gottheit, Freiheit und Unsterblichkeit, appeared in 1866 (2nd ed., 1890). After a long period of decline, he died on September 13, 1872. He is buried in the same cemetery in Nuremberg (Johannis-Friedhof) as artist Albrecht Dürer. 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... Albrecht Dürer (pronounced /al. ...

Feuerbach's influence has been greatest upon the anti-Christian theologians such as Strauss, the author of the Leben Jesu. But many of his ideas were taken up by those who, like Arnold Ruge, had entered into the struggle between church and state in Germany, and those who, like Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, were leaders in the revolt of labour against the power of capital. His work was too deliberately unsystematic ("keine Philosophie ist meine Philosophie", "no philosophy is my philosophy") ever to make him a power in philosophy. He expressed in an eager, disjointed, but condensed and laboured fashion, certain deep-lying convictions -- that philosophy must come back from unsubstantial metaphysics to the solid facts of human nature and natural science, that the human body was no less important than the human spirit ("Der Mensch ist was er isst", "Man is what he eats") and that Christianity was utterly out of harmony with the age. His convictions gained weight from the simplicity, uprightness and diligence of his character; but they need a more effective justifcation than he was able to give them. Despite such critiques, however, his legacy is continued by those who consider him to be one of the fathers of the modern/critical academic study of religion. David Friedrich Strauss (January 27, 1808 - February 8, 1874), was a German theologian and writer. ... Arnold Ruge (13 September 1802 _ 31 December 1880) was a German philosopher and political writer. ... St. ... A state is a set of institutions that possess the authority to make the rules that govern the people in one or more societies, having internal and external sovereignty over a definite territory. ... Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820, Wuppertal – August 5, 1895, London), a 19th-century German political philosopher, developed communist theory alongside his better-known collaborator, Karl Marx, co-authoring The Communist Manifesto (1848). ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... Plato and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome). ...

Although some have said that Feuerbach influenced Bruno Bauer into following Feuerbach from Hegelianism to a form of naturalism, this is disputed by modern writers. Bruno Bauer did not cite Feuerbach as a source. The anti-Hegelianism of Feuerbach was not echoed by Bruno Bauer, either, since Bauer continued to pursue Hegelian themes of theology along with demythologization, dialectic and historical analysis in New Testament criticism. The notion that was common to Feuerbach and David Strauss, namely, that all people are equal to God immediately, without any spiritual development required, was rejected by Bruno Bauer as an anti-Hegelian notion. For Bauer, only the careful development of a spiritual Self-consciousness could elevate the average human being up to Divine Unity. Arnold Ruge, for his part, severely criticized Bauer for his fealty to theological themes. Later, Marx and Engels would reject all the Young Hegelians, from Feuerbach to Bauer in their famous work, The German Ideology and the shorter "Theses on Feuerbach". Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 - April 13, 1882), was a German theologian, philosopher and historian. ... Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 - April 13, 1882), was a German theologian, philosopher and historian. ... Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 - April 13, 1882), was a German theologian, philosopher and historian. ... Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 - April 13, 1882), was a German theologian, philosopher and historian. ... Portrait of David Strauss. ... Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 - April 13, 1882), was a German theologian, philosopher and historian. ... Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 - April 13, 1882), was a German theologian, philosopher and historian. ... Arnold Ruge (13 September 1802 _ 31 December 1880) was a German philosopher and political writer. ... Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 - April 13, 1882), was a German theologian, philosopher and historian. ... Marx is a common German surname. ... The term Engels could refer to more than one thing: Friedrich Engels, German socialist Engels, Russia, formerly known as Pokrovsk This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 - April 13, 1882), was a German theologian, philosopher and historian. ... The Theses on Feuerbach are eleven short philosophical notes written by Karl Marx in 1845. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

• See also Van A. Harvey, et al. Feuerbach and the Interpretation of Religion (STT TELKOM Studies in Religion and Critical Thought), 1997.

Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

External Links

• Ludwig Feuerbach: "The Essence Of Christianity" in Relation to (Max Stirner's) "The Ego And Its Own"
• Max Stirner: Stirner's Critics Reply to Feuerbach