FEUERBACH, Ludwig An dreas, German philosopher: b. Landshut, Ba varia, 28 July 1804; d. 13 Sept. 1872; the fourth son of the illustrious jurist, Paul Johann Anselm Feuerbach. After a secondary educa tion he studied divinity at Heidelberg and Ber lin, but fell under the sway of Hegel and took his doctor's degree in philosophy. After a brief period as privatdozent in Erlangen, he be came persona non grata on account of an heret ical pamphlet embodying 'Thoughts on Death and Immortality.' From a follower of Hegel he developed rapidly into an out-and-out free thinker and democrat. Besides a more technical 'History of Modern Philosophy) and a mono graph on Leibnitz he wrote reviews and essays for the most radical periodical of the time, Arnold Ruge's Jahrbiicher. In 1841 appeared his most significant work 'The Essence of Christianity' (translated by George Eliot), which won him a place among the foremost ad vanced thinkers of the day. He entered into cor respondence with Karl Marx and is indeed re garded by Socialists as a precursor of their classic authorities. He sympathized with the revolutionary uprising of 1848 but took no active part beyond delivering a course of lectures to the Heidelberg students on the °Essence of Religion)) During the dark period of reaction his prestige waned but he continued his re searches into the nature of religion, producing in 1857 the 'Theogonie,' in which unfulfilled desire was defined as the core of religious feel ing. Financial failure threatened him in 1860, but the loyalty of his friends saved him from actual want and in the last few years of his life he was once more able to attack in a volume on 'God, Freedom, Immortality,' the religious problems to which he had so persistently de voted himself.
Feuerbach was not a systematic philosopher and became progressively more averse to meta physics, developing an affection for the methods of natural science and a popular, vivid style, though at times marred by diffuseness and dithyrambs. As an absolutely honest and un
compromising champion of free-thought and political liberalism he exerted a tremendous influence both on Socialists and natural scien tists of the materialistic school. He has been appropriately compared to a powerful ferment. Richard Wagner, Ferdinand Lassalle and Gott fried Keller are among those who were deeply stirred by his writings. Feuerbach's philosophy of religion is remarkable for the bold assump tion of a purely psychological point of view, while historical problems and social factors (as Marx pointed out) are ignored. The neglect of concrete historical conditions distinguishes his method of approach from that of Strauss, while his concentration on individual psychol ogy required supplementing by modern sociologi cal and ethnological considerations. Neverthe less, the insistence on the purely human rather than metaphysical aspects of the problem marked an epoch-making departure in the his tory of the subject. His essays on 'The Neces sity of a Reformation of Philosophy,' 'Pre liminary Theses,' and 'Principles of a Phi losophy of the Future' (1842-43) are remark able anticipations of modern pragmatism with the emphasis on democratic aspirations.
Bibliography.— Bolin, Wilhelm, 'Ludwig Feuerbach, seine Wirken und seine Zeitgenos sen' (Stuttgart 1891) ; Griin, Karl, 'Ludwig Feuerbach in seinem Briefwechsel und Nach lass' (Leipzig 1874) ; Jodi, Friedrich, (Ludwig Feuerbach (Stuttgart 1904) ; Kohut, Adolph, 'Ludwig Feuerbach' (Leipzig 1909).