Principles of the Philosophy of the Future

Book excerpt: A New translation into English from the original manuscript, with an introduction, glossary of Feuerbachian terminology and a timeline of his life and works. Here in "Grundsätze der Philosophie der Zukunft" Feuerbach argues that the future of philosophy lies in a new understanding of humanity as the center of all things and the ultimate source of meaning and value, broadly criticizing traditional Continental metaphysics (primarily Kantian and Hegelian Metaphysics), which he believes has been a dominant force in philosophy for too long. He argues that traditional metaphysics has failed to understand the true nature of reality and has instead focused on abstract concepts and ideas that have little bearing on human experience. Similar to "Preliminary Theses on the Reform of Philosophy," this work represents Feuerbach's attempt to move away from Hegelian philosophy and establish a new, sensualistic philosophy. Although he did not fully develop these principles, they introduced themes that would later be expanded upon by other thinkers. This work is heavily reflective of Kantianism, hence the title. Stalin, in his 1906 book "Anarchism or Socialism", discusses Feuerbach: "If the dialectical method originates from Hegel, then the materialist theory is a development of the materialism of Feuerbach. This is well known to anarchists, and they try to use the shortcomings of Hegel and Feuerbach in order to denigrate the dialectical materialism of Marx and Engels. With regard to Hegel and the dialectical method, we have already pointed out that such tricks of the anarchists cannot prove anything other than their own ignorance. The same must be said regarding their attacks on Feuerbach and materialist theory." Feuerbach was heavily influential on Marx, who modeled his entire religion on Feuerbach's de-mythologization of the Hegelian dialectic. Schopenhauer and Nietzsche both took their satirical criticism about religion from Feuerbach, and every aspect of Marxism can be found here in Marx's favorite Philosopher. Feuerbach is a critical figure in the development of not merely Marxism, but Materialistic Humanism in general. Feuerbach is critical to understanding Marx.