Page 208 - DPOL201_WESTERN_POLITICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Western Political Thought

Notes The concept of alienation that was Marx’s concern during his early years was clearly depicted in
his poem The Player (1840), and in Oulanem, a poetic tragedy. While in these, he understood
alienation as an individual phenomenon, in the Manuscripts (1844) he saw it as a feature of society.
Though the poems were written in the formative years, they indicated the direction of Marx’s
subsequent thought.

11.3 Marx’s Doctoral Dissertation

Marx was not a direct disciple of Hegel, but his interest in Hegelian doctrines stemmed from his
encounter with the Young Hegelians in the Doctors Club. It was during his discussions in the
Doctors Club that Marx got interested in contemporary philosophy. The Young Hegelians were
radical in their outlook. They were an amorphous group in Germany in the 1830s and 1840s,
consisting of Bruno Bauer, Karl Kopper and Adolf Rutenderg. Among them, Bauer influenced
Marx the most. Initially, the Young Hegelians were interested in religious questions, but with the
accession of Frederick William IV and the relaxation of press censorship, they renewed their
political debates. In philosophy, they could be described as speculative rationalists, for they believed
in the continuous unfolding of the power of reason. They professed a deep admiration for the
principles of the French Revolution. They were concerned with the individual’s self-consciousness
and its development. Their position was similar to that of the Epicureans, Skeptics and Stoics, the
post-Aristotelian philosophers whom Marx described as rich in spirit.
The Young Hegelians regarded the post-Aristotelian philosophies as providing the foundations of
modern thought, as precursors of the philosophy of self-awareness or consciousness. These
philosophies emerged at a time when Rome was established drawing from the Greek heritage.
The Greco-Roman tradition influenced the rise of Christianity and identified the principles of
rationalism, akin to the ones in eighteenth-century Enlightenment. There were similarities between
the post-Aristotelian and post-Hegelian philosophies, for both of them were preceded by the
“total philosophies” of Plato, Aristotle and Hegel respectively. Marx felt that the choice before the
Hegelians was either a feeble imitation of Hegel, or a deflection of the direction of philosophy. The
dominant influence of Hegel in the 1830s and 1840s was acknowledged by Engels in the following
words.
... the Hegelian system covered an incomparably greater domain than any earlier
system and developed in this domain a wealth of thought which is astounding even
today.... One can imagine what a tremendous effect this Hegelian system must have
produced in the philosophy-tinged atmosphere of Germany. It was a triumphal
procession which lasted for decades and which by no means came to a standstill on
the death of Hegel. On the contrary, it was precisely from 1830 to 1840 that
“Hegelianism” reigned most exclusively, and to a greater or lesser extent infected
even its opponents.
Marx’s choice of a comparative study of the philosophical systems of Epicures and of the Democritus
(460-370 BC) was partly because of the influence of the Young Hegelians (whose company he
enjoyed), and partly because of his quest of relating philosophy to the external world with a view
to liberating the individual from all shackles through the power of reason. Marx criticized Hegel
for belittling the contributions made by the post-Aristotelian philosophies. He contended that
these theories held the “key to the true history of Greek Philosophy”. In his doctoral thesis, Marx
dealt with the relationship between Epicureanism and Stoicism, the concept of the sage in Greek
philosophy, the ideas of Socrates and Plato on religion and the prospects of philosophy in the
post-Hegelian period. Its appendix included Plutarch’s critique of Epicures and two lengthy notes
on Hegel and Schelling.
Marx contended that the task of philosophical criticism was to expose the hindrances to the
process of free development of human self-consciousness. The idea of human liberation ran through

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