From Hegel to Marx: Studies in the Intellectual Development of Karl Marx (Morningside Book)

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The most valuable exposition of Marx and Engels which has yet to be written in English. ― The New Republic In this brilliant work, first published in 1936, Sydney Hook seeks to resolve one of the classic problems of European intellectual history: how the political radicalism and philosophical materialism of Karl Marx issued from the mystical and conservative intellectual system of G.W.F. Hegel. From Hegel to Marx traces the writings of the young Marx from is early Hegelianism until the genesis of his own distinctive world-view on the eve of the European revolutions of 1848. Rather than merely compare Hegel and Marx, Hook recreates Marx's debates with his associates and contemporaries of the late 1830's and early 1840's, known collectively as the Young Hegelians: Moses Hess, Bruno and Edgar Bauer, Arnold Ruge, Max Stirner and Ludwig Feuerbach. Marx only arrived at his theory of historical materialism, Hook argues, through a series of critical exchanges with each of the Young Hegelians. This edition contains a forward by Christopher Phelps discussing Hook's career and the significance of From Hegel to Marx in the history of ideas. Sidney Hook was an American philosopher of the pragmatist school known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, the philosophy of education, political theory, and ethics. After embracing communism in his youth, Hook was later known for his criticisms of totalitarianism, both fascism and Marxism–Leninism.