Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was an important German philosopher who lived from 1770-1831 and was influential to Marx, who was part of the generation living after Hegel. Marx was attracted to Hegel's philosophy of history, but was also critical of it. For Hegel, history isn't entirely random; rather, it has a direction, or goal. History shows how various 'world historical peoples' such as the Greeks, Romans, Medieval Europeans, modern Europeans, developed from their predecessors. Every important society has a "spirit," which is to say that the society is guided by certain principles that are reflected in the society's political institutions, laws, religion, art, philosophy, literature etc. The Greeks had their own 'spirit' (Zeitgeist, the spirit of the time), as did the Romans, the Persians, the Asians, the Germans; but there was something inadequate about previous society's principles and ideals, and this inadequacy inevitably led to the downfall of that society and the emergence of a new one. The present Germany (and Europe more generally), for Hegel, stands at the end of history's 'corrective' process, having learned from the mistakes of past world historical peoples. History, on Hegel's view, is a struggle of ideas and principles. For the Greeks, living in a tight-knit community was important, but not individual freedom-the Greeks had slaves, for example. A set of principles that fails to recognize the importance of individual freedom is inadequate, and it was therefore necessary that the Greek society would crumble and be replaced by another society with a better set of ideas and principles, a society that recognized the importance of individuality. Thus, Hegel says, from the Greeks emerged the Roman Empire, which valued individual rights and private property. But the Romans, while respecting the principle of individuality, neglected the importance of 'community', of how humans need to be a part of a greater whole and not just pursue their own personal interests. The principles guiding Roman society were also inadequate, and Rome inevitably fell. In the modern state, Hegel felt, we recognize both the importance of individual freedom and of being a part of a community, and so there is, arguably, no need for further historical change.

Hegel's idea that history is the development of 'world historical peoples' with their own 'spirit' was attractive to Marx. On Hegel's view, no individual can transcend his or her time. What I know (my ideas, thoughts) is a function of the society in which I live. If I live in ancient Greece, I will look at the world in a certain way, and won't be able to look at the world in the way that someone from the 20^th century does. Marx agreed on this point.

But in the German Ideology, Marx disagrees with Hegel about the nature of historical transformation. For Hegel, history proceeds through 'thinking'; certain individuals, such as a Socrates or Plato, recognize the inadequacy of the guiding principles of their day, and while no individual philosopher or theorist can change the world by themselves, they can articulate a new vision that ultimately gets realized in practice as new ideas take hold. Marx disagreed that mere thought can change the world, that philosophers can change the world merely by coming up with new guiding principles. This is one of his main points in German Ideology.

Question: What IS Marx's view of how historical transformations occur? What role does individual will play? What role do single individuals play? What role do ideas play?

After Hegel died, a new generation extended and in some cases modified his ideas. They had disagreements about how to interpret Hegel's views, and thus the 'Young Hegelians' broke off into left, center, and right Hegelians. In German Ideology, Marx makes repeated references to some of these Young Hegelians, such as 'Saint Max' (Max Stirner), David Friedrich Strauss, and, most importantly, Ludwig Feuerbach.

Feuerbach is famous for a work called the Essence of Christianity, in which he argued, consistently with Hegel, that one's religion is a product of the culture and set of ideas shared by those in one's society; a religion reflects the spirit of one's age. Just as the Greeks had their own religion, that reflected their general principles and world outlook, so 18^th century Europeans have their own religions, which reflect their own principles. Most people in Feuerbach's day who believed in religion, however, did not think of religion as merely a social or historical 'creation'-rather, for them religion reflects deep and eternal truths. Feuerbach criticizes them, and tries to show how their religion is indeed a human creation, one that reflects their particular 'spirit'.

Feuerbach claims to reduce theology to anthropology. He writes, "Religion is the dream of the human mind"; "I accept the Christ of religion, but I show that this superhuman being is nothing else than a product and reflex of the supernatural human mind."

Marx agrees with Feuerbach that man creates religion. Feuerbach is a sort of 'materialist' in that he thinks God is a product of man's consciousness and spiritual needs. "I found my ideas on materials which can be appropriated only through the activity of the senses," he writes. But Marx disagrees about the source of our ideas. For Feuerbach, religion reflects our feelings: "Property did not become sacred because it was regarded as a divine institution, but it was regarded as a divine institution because it was felt to be in itself sacred."(273) For Marx ideas our shaped not by feelings, but by economic conditions. On Feuerbach's view, Marx implies, all we need to do to be liberated from religion, and to achieve ultimate freedom, is to think new thoughts-to think away religion, perhaps (although Feuerbach actually is not an atheist). But for Marx, this isn't enough.

1. In the Preface, Marx calls the Young Hegelians 'sheep': why?
 

2. Marx lays out different forms of ownership: what are they?
 

3. What does Marx mean on p. 47 where he says German philosophy descends from heaven to earth, we ascend from earth to heaven?
 

4. Marx says the revolution to communism is "empirically established" (55; cf. pp. 56-7). What does he mean?
 

5. Marx says that civil society is the true source of all history (57). Our editor briefly explains the term 'civil society' in his introduction, on pp. 5-6. After reading this, what does Marx mean on p. 57?
 

6. Marx discusses "classes" and "ruling classes"; in a capitalist society, the main classes are the capitalists or bourgeoisie, who own businesses and factories and shops; and the proletariat, who own no property, and must sell their labor to the capitalist. What were the main classes in feudal society, and what happened to transform those classes into the classes of capitalist society? What classes will there be in a communist society?

[Note: if you know nothing about 'feudal society' and the guild system (which existed in the towns of feudal societies), you may wish to do a little background reading on feudalism as suggested in the syllabus]
 

7. Marx speaks of "the illusion that law is based on the will" (p. 80). What does he mean? What does he think law is in fact based on?
 

8. What is "ideology" and what is Marx saying about it?

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