Young Hegelians
The Young Hegelians, or Left Hegelians were a group of German intellectuals in the mid-19th century. The most important representatives were directly or indirectly students of the philosopher Hegel.
People
The Young Hegelians were a loosely organized group. Be counted to their inter alia Strauss, Feuerbach, Bruno Bauer, Edgar Bauer, Echtermeyer, Ruge, Hess and Köppen. But Rutenberg, Ludwig Buhl, Meyen, Nauwerck, Prutz and Stirner and Marx and Engels were this close for a while. Stirner published in October 1844 The Ego and His Own, in which he criticized the theoretical heads the group, Feuerbach and Bruno Bauer, as inconsistent and derided ( "Our atheists are pious people. "). Then Marx wrote with Engels a " settlement ", first with Bruno Bauer and his supporters ( The Holy Family, March 1845 ), then also with Feuerbach and Stirner ( The German Ideology, 1845/46, at the time unpublished) and thereby developed the ideas of historical materialism, which further led to his later political economy.
To this core group around which consisted partly of relegated university scholars (Bruno Bauer, Feuerbach ), there was an even larger group of people who spread the Hegelian ideas through personal contacts or journalistically on. These included Herwegh and Bakunin. The Young Hegelianism influenced in his time also some younger intellectuals, such as Ferdinand Lassalle.
History
The group was formed in the second half of the 1830s as one of the many discussion circles, as they emerged in reaction to the then prevailing in Prussia repressive intellectual and political conditions. The term was first used by Young Hegelians DF Strauss used for those from the Hegelian school, which took in the controversy surrounding his 1835 critical book published religion religious life of Jesus his party while he called the other side Old Hegelians. The center was in Berlin with the club doctor called as a common debating circle (up to 1839). Offshoot existed in Halle, Köln and Königsberg. The most important organ of publication was founded by Ruge 1838 Halle yearbooks for German Science and Art ( 1841 German yearbooks, which were banned in 1843 ). Under the liberal Prussian Minister of Culture of the Old Stone initially tolerated the Young Hegelians were excluded after his death in 1840 and the beginning of the same year reign of the conservative King Frederick William IV of an academic career. The highlight of their activity, the Group achieved 1840-1843 at this time. Radicalized and politicized the positions. Then they quickly disintegrated because of increasing internal theoretical differences (see above: Stirner's critique of Marx's reaction) and was practically non- existent in 1845.
Philosophy, theory
From Hegel, the Young Hegelians took over the dialectic, understood as a principle of historical development and methods to criticize the status quo at the scale of reason. In contrast, they turned against the conservatism inherent in Hegel, according to which everything that exists is explained as necessary and is basically reasonable. With the dialectical thinking they combined the goal of overcoming the political and social conditions in Prussia and in general in Germany. The formulated in their writings radical critique of religion eventually came down to atheism. The radical critique of society led to the demand for the abolition or withering away of the state.
The crux of Marx's critique came down to the fact that the Young Hegelians narrowed their criticism on religion criticism, ideas fought only by other ideas, but these could not be practically and politically. In contrast, Marx and Engels called for to start with the practical life of the people and of the actual conditions, which are determined by how people reproduce their material life. Feuerbach was compared to the others, who still moved depending on the Hegelian system, although materialist, but he knew only the sensuous intuition, not the real practical action.