Single Idea 5278

[catalogued under 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined]

Full Idea

When reality is depicted, philosophy as an independent branch of knowledge loses its medium of existence. At best it is a summing up of general results, abstractions which arise from observation of the historical development of man.

Gist of Idea

Philosophy is no more than abstractions concerning observations of human historical development

Source

K Marx / F Engels (The German Ideology [1846], §1.A)

Book Reference

Marx,K./Engels,F.: 'The German Ideology', ed/tr. Arthur,C.J. [Lawrence and Wishart 1985], p.48


A Reaction

This strikes me as nonsense, based on a bogus Hegelian notion that history is following some sort of pattern, and that mental reality is fixed by physical conditions. The philosophy of mathematics, for one, won't fit into this definition.