Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 8, 2023

The Young Marx Who Went Deep into Reality: A Re-examination Based on the Kreuznach Notebooks and Paris Notebooks

(Abstract)

Liu Bingjing

Between 1843 and 1844, although Feuerbach’s philosophy was the prerequisite for his turning to materialism and proposing his alienated labor theory, Marx never blindly followed suit. As MEGA2’s new literature has revealed, Marx first formed the materialist idea that civil society determined the state in the historical research in the Kreuznach Notebooks. This study enabled Marx to break through Feuerbach’s nature-centered philosophical framework and independently criticize Hegel’s speculative philosophy on the basis of historical reality, thus shifting to materialism. In his contiguous Paris Notebooks on political economy, Marx successfully constructed a unique alienated labor theory that went beyond Feuerbach’s assertion on religious alienation. Moreover, with the aid of the social materialist perspective in political economy, Marx gradually moved away from Feuerbach’s abstract philosophy of perceptual intuition, paving the way for historical materialism. Therefore, although once influenced by Feuerbach, Marx independently turned to materialism and alienated labor theory and dived into the depths of reality. The resplendence of others’ theories could not conceal Marx’s independent road to theoretical exploration and innovation.