| Part of a series on |
| Marxism |
 |
|
|
|
People
|
|
Criticism
|
|
Categories
|
 Communism portal  |
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 both the contemplative materialism of the Young Hegelians and 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" ("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.
Marx did not publish the "Theses on Feuerbach" during his lifetime; they were later edited by Friedrich 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. They may have functioned as a reminder to himself, and the text may actually have been hung above his writing-desk.
Uses of the text
The Eleventh Thesis was used by Sergey Prokofiev in his Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Op. 74.
See also
- Young Marx
- Marxism
- Marxist philosophy
- Ludwig Feuerbach
- Young Hegelians
- German Idealism
- materialism
- Philosophy of dialogue
External links
- Theses on Feuerbach from the Marx-Engels Internet Archive
- Free audio recording of Eleven Theses on Feuerbach, from Librivox
- 1888 text on German Wikisource
 |
This philosophy book-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
