Y

Young Hegelians
Followers of the German philosopher G.W.F. HEGEL,
whose DIALECTICgreatly influenced Karl MARX, MARX-
ISM, COMMUNISM, and FASCISTpolitical thought. Princi-
pal Young Hegelians (divided into RADICAL “LEFT
Hegelians” and CONSERVATIVE “RIGHT Hegelians”)
include Ludwig Feuerbach, Max Stirner, Moses Hess,
and David Strauss. Most were academic philosophers,
political ACTIVISTS, and RADICAL journalists; all were
atheists, especially attacking CHRISTIANITY and the
church. Their ideas led to secular HUMANISTsocialism,
Soviet IDEOLOGY, and NAZI FASCISM.
Feuerback’s book Thoughts on Death and Immortal-
ity(1830) argued from the Hegelian dialectic that life
after death is impossible, denying the spiritual survival
of the individual. In his Essence of Christianity(1841),
he denied the existence of God and claimed that all
religious attributes of the divine (love, power, reason)
were really human qualities projected onto an abstract
ideal. Once God and religion were eliminated, the
truly divine nature of humanity would emerge. Orga-
nized religion, then, caused human ALIENATION, for
Feuerback. Strauss’s book The Life of Jesus (1835)

denounced the historical and spiritual teachings of

Christianity, claiming that they were just myths made

up by the early church. He denied that the Bible pre-

sented literal truth but only humanistic symbols. This

view affected Liberal Christianity and contributed to

the arguments for suppressing religion in the commu-

nist countries.

The Young Hegelians, whom Marx criticized for

being too MODERATE, saw themselves as followers of the

FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT. They optimistically believed

that humanity, through reason, DEMOCRACY, and tech-

nology, could create a perfect society based on secular

science, education, and INDUSTRIALISM; human control

of nature and economics would end the oppression of

aristocratic government, FEUDALISM, and religious

superstition. This attitude finds expression still in vari-

ous LEFTISTideology (CRITICAL THEORY).

Further Readings

McLellan, D. The Young Hegelians and Karl Marx.New York:

Praeger, 1969.

Stepelevich, L. S., ed. The Young Hegelians: An Anthology.Cam-

bridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

313