Research On The Relationship Between Young Marx And Fichte

The objective of this dissertation is to quest into the relation between the philosophy of Fichte and that of Young Marx. In the foreword to the first German edition of Die Entwicklung des Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissenschaft, Engels writes "that German socialists are proud to be descended not only from Saint Simon, Fourier, and Owen, but from Kant, Fichte, and Hegel as well." But for the most part, the relation between Fichte and Marx has not been given its due attention. This dissertation is to study how Fichte’s philosophy affect the development of young Marx’s thought, and to analyze the differences between the thought of young Marx and the philosophy of Fichte.The dissertation will address the issues mentioned in the following ways. The preliminary task is to outline the role of Fichte’s philosophy in the wider context of German Enlightenment. It will be found that Fichte’s philosophy is the foundation of German liberalism, radicalism and nationalism. Once this has been established, it will be possible to interpret the content of Fichte’s philosophy. For the most part, my own discussion will concentrate on the contents of consciousness in terms of a theory of the self, Wissenschaftslehre and its political thought. Accordingly, the second phase of the discussion will outline the Young Hegelians’ role in the context of nineteenth-century German history. It will be found that the Young Hegelians want to change the German society after Hegel’s death, and to finish the task of German Enlightenment in religion and politics. Consequently, most of the Young Hegelians go back to the philosophy of Fichte.At the final stage, two problems arising out of the discussion will be addressed: as a member of the Young Hegelians, young Karl Marx, like others, goes back to Fichte’s philosophy as well. In the doctoral dissertation and the early Rheinische Zeitung career, we can find that young Karl Marx’s thought is influenced by Fichte’s philosophy. But in his later Rheinische Zeitung career or the year 1843, young Marx begins to reflect upon Fichte’s philosophy. As a result, young Marx’s thought is different from Fichte’s philosophy in philosophical perspective, religious criticism, and political thought.The overall goal of this study is to demonstrate that Fichte’s philosophy exercised a significant influence on the development of young Marx’s thought. In the doctoral dissertation and the early Rheinische Zeitung career, young Karl Marx’s philosophical perspective, as well as his religious criticism, and political thought, is influenced by Fichte’s philosophy. But later, Marx first changes his critique method, and then changes his philosophical perspective, religious criticism, and political thought. The theme of Marx’s philosophy switches from the demonstration of freedom to political critique. At this point, young Marx is radically different from Fichte and other Young Hegelians. Through this research, we finish Engels’ suggestion and provide a new spectacle to understand Marx’s philosophy revolution. The change of young Marx’s thought also gives us a fascinating and uncommon spectacle to engage with a series of important and complex issues that remain relevant to contemporary readers.