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Bruno Bauer | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 6, 1809 Eisenberg, Kingdom of Prussia |
| Died | April 13, 1882 Rixdorf, Berlin, German Empire |
| Alma mater | Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin |
| School tradition | Young Hegelians |
| Language | German |
| Notable students | Karl Marx |
Bruno Bauer (September 6, 1809 — April 13, 1882) was a philosopher, political theorist, and theologian. He was the most prominent member of the Young Hegelians. He is known in Marxist circles primarily for Marx's critiques of him in the works The holy family (1845), the German ideology (1846), and On the Jewish question (1843). In addition he is also known as an early figure in biblical criticism and in mythicism.
The holy family was written in response to the periodical, the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, of which Bauer was the editor. The work consists of responses, each written either by Marx or Engels, to various articles found in the periodical. In addition, a chapter was dedicated to critiques of Bauer's articles. The German ideology also contains a chapter concerning Bauer. The work On the Jewish Question was written in response to Bauer's anti-Jewish work The Jewish question (1843).
Life[edit | edit source]
Bauer was born in Eisenberg in 1809. Bauer studied at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. He attended lectures on Hegel’s Encyclopaedia in his first term and was enrolled in Hegel’s own course on aesthetics until April 1829.[1] Bauer won the University of Berlin's 1828 annual Royal Prize, which asked for essays answering a question (this one chosen by Hegel). He taught at Berlin from 1834 to 1839 where one of his students was Karl Marx, of whom he also acted as doctoral advisor and became a close friend. The two co-edited the second edition of Hegel's Lectures on the philosophy of religion. The two had become ideologically opposed by 1842.
While initially associated with the Right Hegelians, he turned left in the 1830s and became a central figure in the Young (Left) Hegelians as well as the radical group Die Freien.
He edited the Zeitschrift für spekulative Theologie (Journal of Speculative Theology) from 1836 to 1838, and the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung from December 1843 until December of 1844. He wrote much, especially in the form of journalism and articles, of the 1848 revolutions in Germany. After this time he became increasingly right-wing while focusing more and more on religious issues.[2]
Bruno Bauer died at Rixdorf in 1882.
Views[edit | edit source]
Religious and theological[edit | edit source]
Bauer argued that early Christianity owed more to ancient Greek philosophy than to Judaism. Starting in 1840, he began a series of works arguing that Jesus was a 2nd-century fusion of Jewish, Greek, and Roman theology.
Political[edit | edit source]
Prior to the revolutions of March 1848, Bauer espoused a Hegelian republicanism. He opposed the Restoration state, especially its religious justification, opposed liberalism, and also opposed socialism, which was burgeoning as an ideology in his time.[3]
Bauer denounced feudalism and its irrational privilege. He argued that the state makes use of religion to bolster its authority. His critique of liberalism lied in rejecting the dominance that it places in economic interest, and in contrasting the mass tendencies of modern society with liberalism's individualism. Against socialism he argued the proletariat can be liberated not by appeals to the interests of one class, but by a common struggle against privilege in all its forms.[3]
During and after the revolutions, he devoted much time to theorising their causes and failures.
Philosophical[edit | edit source]
Fundamental to Bauer’s philosophy was the Hegelian idea of the unity of thought and being.
Historical[edit | edit source]
Bauer maintained that overcoming the problems of the existing order depends on reflection on history as the product of self-consciousness. This opens the possibility for individuals to elevate themselves above their particular interests. Hegel’s great achievement for Bauer, therefore, is that he provided for the first time a comprehensive grasp of history.[1]
Anti-Judaism and antisemitism[edit | edit source]
Much of Bauer's writing was anti-Jewish, anticipating the soon-to-rise movements of antisemitism in Germany. In 1843, Bauer wrote The Jewish Question, which was responded to in a pamphlet written by Karl Marx, entitled, "On the Jewish Question". Bauer argued that the Jews were responsible for their own misfortunes in European society since they had "made their nest in the pores and interstices of bourgeois society".[4] After the revolutions of 1848, his beliefs only became more virulently anti-Semitic in the anti-liberal circles he came to frequent.[3]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Douglas Moggach (2003). The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer: 'I. Foundations: aesthetics, ethics, and republicanism'.
- ↑ “In Bauer’s late judgement, the failure of 1848 attests to the bankruptcy of the European metaphysical tradition, of which, formerly, his own ethical idealism was to have been the culmination. While he continues to proclaim his fidelity to his basic pre-revolutionary insights, his thought undergoes a profound change. He abandons his republicanism, but his abiding anti-liberal stance now induces him to contribute to conservative causes.”
Douglas Moggach (2003). The Philosophy of Politics of Bruno Bauer: 'IV. Judging the revolutionary movement'. - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Douglas Moggach (2003). The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer: 'Introduction: the friend of freedom'.
- ↑ Bruno Bauer (1843). The Jewish question (German: Die Judenfrage).