Ludwig Feuerbach – despite being inspired by Hegel’s works – developed a philosophical system that was almost his polar opposite. He believed that all objects and phenomena were made up of physical elements and that the mind was just another object, made up of those same elements. He rejected the notion that there was anything spiritual or immaterial about reality, instead seeing it as a fundamentally material phenomenon.
So while Hegel saw the world as a series of stages through which humanity progressed, Feuerbach saw history as a continuous struggle between two opposing forces: the forces of good and evil. For him, morality wasn’t something imposed from above, but something inherent within each individual. He believed that we create gods in our own image and that the values we attribute to them are really nothing other than our own desires projected onto an external force.
Theology, he claimed, is simply anthropology, not a supernatural explanation of the universe, but a study of humankind. We should therefore examine ourselves as the true sources of virtue and goodness, rather than seeking guidance from an imagined deity. Feuerbach‘s moral philosophy was strongly based on this idea of humanity rather than divinity, and his atheism led him to see socialism as the logical conclusion of his beliefs. As well as influencing the thinking of many socialists, including Vladimir Lenin, Feuerbach also inspired some far-left thinkers, notably Karl Marx.
