Young Hegelians
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The Young Hegelians were a group of European philosophers in the 19th century who critically engaged with the ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Emerging after Hegel's death in 1831, they sought to apply his philosophy to contemporary social, political, and religious issues.1
The Hegelian school itself was divided into three currents:
* Right Hegelians: Defended Hegel's philosophy, aligning it with orthodoxy and conservative politics.2
* Left Hegelians (Young Hegelians): Interpreted Hegel's dialectic as a call for social and political change, leading to revolutionary ideas in religion (atheism) and politics (liberal-democracy).2
* Centre Hegelians: Focused on interpreting Hegel's system and logical problems.2
Key figures on the Left included David Friedrich Strauss, Bruno Bauer, Max Stirner, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Karl Marx. They questioned religious doctrines, advocated for individual freedom, and critiqued existing institutions, laying groundwork for later social and political thought.1
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ethicsHegel…radical followers known as the Young Hegelians hailed the manner in which he had demonstrated the need for a new form of society to overcome the separation between self and community, but they scorned the implication that the state in which they were living could be this society. Among them…
Read More…radical followers known as the Young Hegelians hailed the manner in which he had demonstrated the need for a new form of society to overcome the separation between self and community, but they scorned the implication that the state in which they were living could be this society. Among them…
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continental philosophyMarx…of Hegelians—the so-called “left” or “young” Hegelians—became disillusioned with Hegel’s philosophy as a result of the philosopher’s open flirtation with political reaction in the Philosophy of Right and other texts. They came to regard Hegelian idealism as merely the philosophical window dressing of Prussian authoritarianism. From a similar point of…
Read More…of Hegelians—the so-called “left” or “young” Hegelians—became disillusioned with Hegel’s philosophy as a result of the philosopher’s open flirtation with political reaction in the Philosophy of Right and other texts. They came to regard Hegelian idealism as merely the philosophical window dressing of Prussian authoritarianism. From a similar point of…
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HegelianismStages in the history of the interpretation of Hegel…The left—formed of the “young Hegelians,” for the most part indirect disciples of Hegel—considered the dialectic as a “principle of movement” and viewed Hegel’s identification of the rational with the real as a command to modify the cultural and political reality that reactionism was merely justifying and to make…
Read More…The left—formed of the “young Hegelians,” for the most part indirect disciples of Hegel—considered the dialectic as a “principle of movement” and viewed Hegel’s identification of the rational with the real as a command to modify the cultural and political reality that reactionism was merely justifying and to make…
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Friedrich EngelsEarly life… as expounded by the “Young Hegelians,” a group of leftist intellectuals, including the theologian and historian Bruno Bauer and the anarchist Max Stirner. They accepted the Hegelian dialectic—basically that rational progress and historical change result from the conflict of opposing views, ending in a new synthesis. The Young Hegelians…
Read More… as expounded by the “Young Hegelians,” a group of leftist intellectuals, including the theologian and historian Bruno Bauer and the anarchist Max Stirner. They accepted the Hegelian dialectic—basically that rational progress and historical change result from the conflict of opposing views, ending in a new synthesis. The Young Hegelians…
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Karl MarxEarly years…and his adherence to the Young Hegelians. At first he felt a repugnance toward Hegel’s doctrines; when Marx fell sick it was partially, as he wrote his father, “from intense vexation at having to make an idol of a view I detested.” The Hegelian pressure in the revolutionary student culture…
Read More…and his adherence to the Young Hegelians. At first he felt a repugnance toward Hegel’s doctrines; when Marx fell sick it was partially, as he wrote his father, “from intense vexation at having to make an idol of a view I detested.” The Hegelian pressure in the revolutionary student culture…
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