The "Theses on Feuerbach" are eleven short philosophical notes written byKarl Marx as a basic outline for the first chapter of the bookThe German Ideology in 1845. Like the book for which they were written, the theses were never published in Marx's lifetime, seeing print for the first time in 1888 as an appendix to a pamphlet by his co-thinkerFriedrich Engels. The document is best remembered for its epigrammatic 11th and final thesis, "Philosophers have onlyinterpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is tochange it", which is engraved onMarx's tomb.[1]
In February 1845 Karl Marx was deported from France at the behest of minister of foreign affairsFrançois Guizot.[2] Marx found sanctuary inBrussels, where he was joined for a number of months by his political compatriot Friedrich Engels beginning in April of that same year.[2] It was in Brussels that Marx first began to shape the concept ofhistorical materialism[2]—the idea that underlying fundamental changes in political history was a corresponding economic struggle between ruling and oppressed classes which was at root of these structural transformations.
Marx began work upon a book detailing his new philosophy of history, entitledThe German Ideology.[3] In connection with this project, Marx wrote a terse 11-point set of observations andepigrams regarding the ideas ofLudwig Feuerbach. Feuerbach was a fellowYoung Hegelian who Marx regarded as the most modern exponent ofmaterialism, although Marx believed Feuerbach had not drawn fully satisfactory political conclusions from his philosophical insights. These "theses" were initially written as a raw outline for the first chapter ofThe German Ideology, and most of these were developed at greater length in that work.[3]
Marx sharply criticized the contemplativematerialism of the Young Hegelians, viewing "the essence of man" in isolation andabstraction, instead arguing that the nature of man could only be understood in the context of his economic andsocial relations.[4] Marx argued that understanding the origins of religious belief were not enough in moving towards its elimination; instead declaring that it was the underlyingsocial and economic structure which gave rise to religious belief and that it was a transformation of this which was a necessary precondition to the elimination of religion.[5]
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."[6] While the text wishes to retain thecritical stance ofGerman critical idealism, it transposes that criticism intopractical, material, political terms.
Despite their best efforts to find a publisher,The German Ideology was not published during the lifetime of either Marx or Engels.[5] The polemical work was finally published in full only in 1932 by theMarx–Engels–Lenin Institute of the Central Committee of theAll-Union Communist Party in Moscow.[7]
Nor did Marx publish the "Theses on Feuerbach" during his lifetime. This material was instead later edited byFriedrich Engels and published in February 1888 as a supplement to his pamphletLudwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy.[8] Marx's original unedited text was published only in 1924 in German and Russian translation as part ofMarx–Engels Archives, Book I, by the Marx–Engels Institute in Moscow.[9][10]
The Eleventh Thesis on Feuerbach — "Philosophers have hitherto onlyinterpreted the world in various ways; the point istochange it" — was used bySergey Prokofiev in hisCantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Op. 74.[11]
The Eleventh Thesis is engraved in the entryway ofHumboldt University onUnter den Linden in Berlin. TheSocialist Unity Party of Germany ordered this in 1953 as part of reconstruction followingWorld War II.[12]
The Eleventh Thesis is also Marx'sepitaph, engraved on histombstone inHighgate Cemetery in London, along with the final line of theCommunist Manifesto, "Workers of All Lands, Unite".
Whittaker Chambers (fluent in German and translator of the 1928 English-language version ofBambi) published his own translation in his 1952 memoirWitness: "Philosophers have explained the world; it is necessary to change the world."[13]
GermanWikisource has original text related to this article:Thesen über Feuerbach
Eleven Theses on Feuerbach public domain audiobook atLibriVox| International | |
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