Abstract

The role of the concept of man or humanity in the thought of David Friedrich Strauss, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Karl Marx is examined in this dissertation. Strauss, Feuerbach, and Marx each have a view of "truly human" man which serves, I argue, both as a unifying theme and as a basis for their social and political views. This focus on the concept of man and the prerequisites for the truly human life illuminates the evolution of their thought and makes their divergent political perspectives more intelligible. ;For Strauss, the major works dealt with are his Life of Jesus, the Christian Faith, Ulrich von Hutten, the Life of Jesus for the People, and the Old Faith and the New. In his Life of Jesus, Strauss seeks to salvage the Hegelian "reconciliation" of philosophy and religion by substituting humanity for Jesus as the locus of the unity of divine and human nature. The concept of humanity remains central in his later works, but his understanding of the nature of "true humanity" changes. These changes are explored as is the relationship of these changes to his own political career and his social and political views. ;Of Feuerbach's writings, I focus on his dissertation, Thoughts on Death and Immortality, his "Critique of Hegel's Philosophy," The Essence of Christianity, The Principles of the Philosophy of the Future, The Essence of Faith According to Luther, and his Lectures on the Essence of Religion. There is a social and political aspect to Feuerbach's concept of man as species-being. Initially, he views the truly human as one who recognizes his own universality through species-consciousness. As his thought develops, species-consciousness becomes the basis of both moral and political claims. ;In exploring Marx's concept of man, the major works I treat are his article "On the Jewish Question," his "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law," his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, The Holy Family, The German Ideology, the Grundrisse, and Volume I of Capital. Throughout Marx's writings, the notion of fully human man has a prescriptive function, but the conditions perceived as necessary for the realization of truly human man change markedly. I conclude that the Young Hegelian movement culminates in Marx's mature thought in that only there is the critique of society fully integrated with his view of man