The
Young Hegelians, or
Left Hegelians, were a group of Prussian intellectuals who in the decade or so after the death of
Georg Wilhelm HegelGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism, and along with Immanuel Kant, one of the most influential philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment....
in 1831, wrote and responded to his ambiguous legacy. The Young Hegelians drew on his idea that the purpose and promise of history was the total negation of everything conducive to restriction of freedom and irrationality to mount radical critiques of first religion and then the Prussian political system. They ignored anti-utopian aspects of his thought that suggested the world had essentially reached perfection.
Left and Right Hegelianism
The German philosophers who wrote immediately after the death of Georg Wilhelm Hegel in 1831 can be roughly divided into the politically and religiously radical 'left', or 'young', Hegelians and the more conservative 'right', or 'old', Hegelians. The Right Hegelians followed the master in believing that the dialectic of history had come to an end (Hegel's
Phenomenology of SpiritPhänomenologie des Geistes is one of G.W.F. Hegel's most important philosophical works. It is translated as The Phenomenology of Spirit or The Phenomenology of Mind due to the dual meaning in the German word Geist. The book's working title, which also appeared in the first edition, was Science of...
reveals itself to be the culmination of history as the reader reaches its end). This meant that reason and freedom had reached the absolute maximum and were embodied by the
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
n state which, although possessing extensive civil service, good universities, some industrialization and high employment, was actually rather politically backward compared with the far more liberal constitutional monarchies of France and Britain. The Young Hegelians drew on Hegel's veneration of Reason and Freedom as the guiding forces of history, and his idea that the 'Spirit' overcame all that was opposed to these and to itself. They believed Hegel's apparent belief in the end of history conflicted with other aspects of his thought and that it was painfully obvious that the dialectic was not complete given the irrationality of certain (later all) religious beliefs and the empirical lack of (especially political and religious) freedom in Prussian society as it existed at the time. It is important to note that the groups were not as unified or self-conscious as the labels 'right' and 'left' make them seem. The term 'Right Hegelian', for example, was never actually used by those it was ascribed to, Hegel's direct successors at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (now the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), and was actually first used by David Strauss to describe Bruno Bauer (who is, confusingly, a typically 'Left' Hegelian).
History
It was the outcry caused by
David Strauss'sDavid Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian and writer. He scandalized Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus," whose divine nature he denied. His work was connected to the Tübingen School, which revolutionized study of the New Testament, early Christianity, and ancient...
The Life of Jesus in 1835 which first made the 'Young Hegelians' aware of their existence as a distinct group, and it was their attitude to religion that distinguished the left and right from then onwards (
August CieszkowskiCount August Cieszkowski was a Polish philosopher, economist and social and political activist...
is a possible exception to this rule). Despite the lack of political freedom of speech in Prussia at the time King Wilhelm III, under the influence of his relatively enlightened minister of religion, health and education Altenstein, allowed pretty much anything to be said about religion so long as there was practical obedience to his enforced merging of Calvinism and Lutheranism and spreading of Protestantism in Catholic areas. Thus the Young Hegelians at first found it easier to direct their critical energies towards religion than politics. A major consolidator of the Young Hegelian movement was the journal
Hallische Jahrbucher (1838-41) (later
Deutsche Jahrbucher (1841-43)) which was edited by
Arnold RugeArnold Ruge was a German philosopher and political writer.-Studies in university and prison:Born in Bergen, he studied in Halle, Jena and Heidelberg. As an advocate of a free and united Germany he was jailed for five years in 1825 in the fortress of Kolberg, where he studied Plato and the Greek...
and received contributions from many of the other Young Hegelians (and, in its infancy, Old Hegelians). It attacked Catholicism and orthodox Protestantism but was initially politically moderate, taking the line that Prussia was the embodiment of historical reason, which required that it evolve by peaceful reform towards a bourgeois egalitarian state with a constitutional monarchy, Protestant religion (though without a dominating state church) and freedom of speech. Another nucleus of the Young Hegelian movement was the Doctor's Club in Berlin (later known as 'the Free'), a society of intellectuals founded in 1837 and led by Bruno Bauer who, by 1838, was writing the most anti-Christian pamphlets in Germany at the time.
The radicalization and politicization of the movement occurred when the new king, upon whom the Young Hegelians had pinned their hopes of political reform, Frederick William IV, came to power in 1840 and curtailed political freedom and religious tolerance more than before. In philosophy the radicalization took the form of a breach with Hegel’s doctrine of the Prussian state as the fulfillment of history. In religion it manifested as a rejection of Christianity even in its most diluted pantheistic form and an adoption of atheism (led by Bauer and Feuerbach). In politics the Young Hegelians dropped much of Hegel's political theory and for the most part turned to
republicanismRepublicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of Republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context. The sometimes contrary definitions are all covered in...
- the exceptions being Moses Hess, who mixed Hegelianism with communism, and of course Marx and Engels. In all these areas a central change was the adoption of certain ideas of
Johann Gottlieb FichteJohann Gottlieb Fichte was a German philosopher. He was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant...
, especially the notion that the self-transcendence of the world by man was a possibility and duty, but one that could never be conclusively fulfilled.
Although they spread democratic ideas throughout Germany to some extent, the intellectual exertions of the Young Hegelians failed to connect with or stir any wider social movement, and when the
Deutsche Jahrbucher was suppressed in 1843 the movement started to disintegrate.
Philosophy
The Young Hegelians interpreted the entire state apparatus as ultimately claiming legitimacy based upon religious tenets; while this thought was clearly inspired by the function of Lutheranism in contemporary
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
, the Young Hegelians held the theory to be applicable to any state backed by any religion. All laws were ultimately based on religious tenets.
As such, their plan to undermine what they felt was the corrupt and despotic state apparatus was to attack the philosophical basis of religion. In the process, they became the first non-religious Biblical scholars since
Baruch SpinozaBaruch or Benedict de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death...
in his Theologico-Political Treatise.
David Strauss
David StraussDavid Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian and writer. He scandalized Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus," whose divine nature he denied. His work was connected to the Tübingen School, which revolutionized study of the New Testament, early Christianity, and ancient...
wrote
Das Leben Jesu (
The Life of Jesus|The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined) in 1835, in which he argued - in a Hegelian framework - against both the supernatural elements of the Gospel and the idea that the Christian church was the sole bearer of absolute truth. He believed the Gospel stories were mythical responses to the situation the Jewish community at the time found themselves in. The idea that 'infinite reason' or 'the absolute' (i.e. broadly Hegelian notions of God) could be incarnated within a finite human being was particularly absurd. Moreover, the original teachings of
JesusJesus of Nazareth —also known as Jesus Christ or occasionally Jesus the Christ—is the central figure of Christianity. Within most Christian denominations...
, which were aimed at aiding the poor and downtrodden, had slowly been perverted and usurped by the establishment to manipulate and oppress the populaces of the world by promising them a reward in the afterlife if they refrained from rebellion against the powers that be in this.
Bruno Bauer
Bruno BauerBruno Bauer was a German theologian, philosopher and historian.Bauer investigated the sources of the New Testament and concluded that early Christianity owed more to Greek philosophy than to Judaism....
went further, and claimed that the entire story of Jesus was a myth. He found no record of anyone named "Yeshua of Nazareth" in any then-extant
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
records. (Subsequent research has, in fact, found such citations, notably by the Roman historian
TacitusBook 15 of the Annals by the Roman historian Tacitus mentions Christus as a person convicted by Pontius Pilate during Tiberius' reign:...
and the
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish historian
JosephusJesus of Nazareth is possibly mentioned in two passages of the work The Antiquities of the Jews by the Jewish historian Josephus, written in the late first century AD. One passage, known as the Testimonium Flavianum, discusses the career of Jesus. The authenticity of the Testimonium Flavianum has...
, although these citations are not contemporaneous with Jesus' life and are viewed by some as forgeries.) Bauer argued that almost all prominent historical figures in antiquity are referenced in other works (e.g.,
AristophanesAristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a prolific and much acclaimed comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays have come down to us virtually complete...
mocking
Socrates Socrates was a Classical Greek philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known only through the classical accounts of his students...
in his plays), but as he could not find any such references to Jesus, it was likely that the entire story of Jesus was fabricated
Ludwig Feuerbach
Ludwig Feuerbach wrote a psychological profile of a believer called
Das Wesen des Christentums (
The Essence of Christianity). He argues that the believer is presented with a doctrine that encourages the projection of fantasies onto the world. Believers are encouraged to believe in miracles, and to idealize all their weaknesses by imagining an omnipotent, omniscient, immortal God who represents the antithesis of all human flaws and shortcomings.
Karl Neuwerck
Karl Neuwerck was a lecturer of Hegelian philosophy in Berlin who lost his teaching license along with
Bruno BauerBruno Bauer was a German theologian, philosopher and historian.Bauer investigated the sources of the New Testament and concluded that early Christianity owed more to Greek philosophy than to Judaism....
in 1842.
Arnold Ruge
As an advocate of a free and united
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
,
Arnold RugeArnold Ruge was a German philosopher and political writer.-Studies in university and prison:Born in Bergen, he studied in Halle, Jena and Heidelberg. As an advocate of a free and united Germany he was jailed for five years in 1825 in the fortress of Kolberg, where he studied Plato and the Greek...
shared Hegel's belief that history is a progressive advance towards the realization of freedom, and that freedom is attained in the State, the creation of the rational General Will. At the same time he criticized Hegel for having given an interpretation of history which was closed to the future, in the sense that it left no room for novelty.
Max Stirner
Max StirnerJohann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist...
would occasionally socialize with the Young Hegelians, but held views much to the contrary of these thinkers, all of whom he consequently satirized and mocked in his nominalist masterpiece
Der Einzige und Sein Eigentum (
The Ego and Its OwnThe Ego and Its Own is a philosophical work by German philosopher Max Stirner , first published in 1844.-Synopsis:...
).
Karl Marx
Another Young Hegelian,
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
, was at first sympathetic with this strategy of attacking Christianity to undermine the Prussian establishment, but later formed divergent ideas and broke with the Young Hegelians, attacking their views in works such as
The German IdeologyThe German Ideology is a book written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1845. Marx and Engels didn't find a publisher. However, the work was later retrieved and published for the first time in 1932 by David Riazanov through the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow...
. Marx concluded that religion is not the basis of the establishment's power, but rather ownership of capital — processes that employ technologies, land, money and especially human labor-power to create surplus-value — lie at the heart of the establishment's power. Marx (and Engels) considered religion as a component of the ideological superstructure of societies, and a pre-rational mode of thought, which nonetheless was wielded by ruling elites to obscure social relationships including the true basis of political power. In this latter sense, he described religion as "the
opium of the people"Religion is the opiate of the people" is one of the most frequently quoted statements of Karl Marx. It was translated from the German original, "Die Religion .....
."
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich EngelsFriedrich Engels was a German social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of communist theory, alongside Karl Marx. Together they produced The Communist Manifesto in 1848...
co-developed with Karl Marx a materialist analysis of history, since known as
historical materialismHistorical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx...
, beginning with their joint critique of the Young Hegelians and Feuerbach in the two books
The Holy Family (1845) and
The German Ideology (1852). A central premise of this materialist conception of history is that, generally speaking, social being precedes social consciousness. Together with Marx, Engels wrote
The Communist ManifestoManifesto of the Communist Party , often referred to as The Communist Manifesto, was first published on February 21, 1848, and is one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the Communist League and written by communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it...
.
August von Cieszkowski
August CieszkowskiCount August Cieszkowski was a Polish philosopher, economist and social and political activist...
focused on Hegel's view of world history and reformed it to better accommodate Hegelian Philosophy itself by dividing it into Past, Present, and Future. In his
Prolegomena to Historiosophy,
CieszkowskiCount August Cieszkowski was a Polish philosopher, economist and social and political activist...
argues that we have gone from
ArtArt is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture, and paintings...
(the Past), which was a stage of contemplating the Real, to
PhilosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
(the Present), which is a contemplation of the Ideal, and that since Hegel's philosophy was the summing-up and perfection of Philosophy, the time of Philosophy was up, and the time for a new era has dawned - the era of Action.
Karl Schmidt
Karl Schmidt is noted as being the last Young Heglian. In his work,
The Realm of Understanding and the Individual, he examined the history of Hegelianism and derived the truth that, "I am only myself."
Edgar Bauer
Edgar BauerEdgar Bauer was a German political philosopher and a member of the Young Hegelians.-Biography:He was the younger brother of Bruno Bauer. According to Lawrence S...
, 1820-1886, was the younger brother of Bruno Bauer. According to Lawrence S. Stepelevich, Edgar Bauer was the most anarchistic of the Young Hegelians, and "...it is possible to discern, in the early writings of Edgar Bauer, the theoretical justification of political terrorism."
Legacy
The Young Hegelians were not popular at the university due to their radical views on religion and society. Bauer was dismissed from his teaching post in 1842, and Marx and other students were warned that they should not bother submitting their dissertations at the University of Berlin, as they would certainly be poorly received due to their reputations.