Feuerbach's Influences on Marx's Early Concepts of the State: A Case Study of Political Sociology

Abstract

An analysis of Ludwig Feuerbach's influences on Karl Marx's early conceptions of the state. Applying Feuerbach's method to the critique of politics, Marx asserted that the family & civil society are actual components of the state & that man leads a real life in the family & society rather than in the state. Adopting Feuerbach's concept of man's self-alienation, Marx viewed the state as alienated social power, a creature trying to dominate its creator. Feuerbach's anthropocentric naturalism helped Marx to formulate a materialistic conception of history in which the state was perceived as the expression of the interests of the propertied SCs, which led to Marx's view of the state as an instrument of class rule. Modified AA.