Ludwig Feuerbach was born in the family of a lawyer. Studying at the theological faculty of the University of Heidelberg, he came under the influence of Hegel and entered the University of Berlin at the Faculty of Philosophy. But his fate was such that he experienced many disappointments - in Hegel's philosophy and in a "civilized" life. Until his death, he lived in a village. His main works, which he wrote there - "Critique of Hegel's Philosophy", "The Essence of Christianity", "Fundamentals of the Philosophy of the Future" - build the foundations of a new philosophy, which is characterized as anthropological materialism.
One of the components of this philosophy is a critique of idealism. Feuerbach calls German classical philosophy idealistic, because it is trying to bring the outside world out of thinking. This leads to the dominance of dogma, a shift in religious beliefs in a philosophical manner, to a kind of "refined religion." Simply, if theism dominates in ordinary religious beliefs - faith in a personal God, then in German philosophy - an impersonal Spirit, cognizable by the intellect. Feuerbach's anthropological materialism discards Hegel's dialectic as a type of discussion in which truth is lost. The new philosophy must overcome Hegel's philosophy in alliance with the natural sciences in order to understand the real, not imaginary, possibilities of man. Moreover, the question of the essence of man should be raised, because the unity of being and thinking makes sense only in man, because man is the unity of spiritual and bodily substance, and its essence is in experience, in sensuality.
Anthropological philosophy in the Feuerbach system is becoming a universal science. All his teachings are imbued with anthropologism. Nature for Feuerbach is identical with matter. It is eternal and diverse, infinite, mobile, defined by space and time. This is the only reality - there is nothing outside it. Man, as it were, completes nature - there is nothing below man and above him. “The contemplation of nature and man contains all the mysteries of philosophy, ” says the philosopher. The diversity of human feelings reflects the diversity of nature. Cognition is possible precisely because of sensuality.
Feelings do not deceive us and are not superficial - they are quite enough for cognition of any phenomena. Feelings are universal - they have thoughts, and thoughts have feelings. Feuerbach’s anthropological materialism puts forward the idea that thinking is based on sensuality and supplements it: “By senses we read the book of nature, but we understand it by thinking.” Thus, thinking is necessary only to search for the hidden meaning of things. However, from the point of view of the philosopher, such thinking does not have practical application, and it should not - the practice is hostile to both philosophy and feelings, it is dirty and mercantile.
Unlike modern atheist philosophers, Feuerbach’s anthropological materialism does not consider religion as a meaningless deception - it arose from the fear and difficulties of primitive man, as well as from the human desire for ideal. “God, ” Feuerbach concludes, “is what man wants to be.” Therefore, the essence of religion is in the human heart. The development of religion corresponds to the steps of historical development. When a person was completely dependent on nature, then religion was natural, and when a person created an ideal and placed it outside himself, worshiping an abstract person - religion became spiritual. This is evidenced by such religious concepts as, for example, the Trinity, which is actually a symbol of the family.
Feuerbach's anthropological materialism deduces the essence of Christianity and religious feelings in general from love. The problem of religion is the unattainability of the ideal - this means that if the ideal is realized, religion will disappear (because a person does not have an organ of superstition, the philosopher is ironic). A person is driven by his passions, primarily selfishness, and therefore freedom for a person is the creation of conditions for him when he can do what he wants. The driving force of ethics is rational egoism, which is most fully expressed in love, because it best embodies the relationship between "I" and "you." Therefore, the spiritual religion must, according to the thinker, be replaced by the cult of a natural and loving person. Summarizing the anthropology of Feuerbach, Engels once noted that he "wants to throw all people into each other's arms, despite gender and age."
