Eugen Dühring facts for kids
Eugen Karl Dühring (born January 12, 1833, in Berlin – died September 21, 1921, in Nowawes, which is now part of Potsdam-Babelsberg) was a German philosopher, positivist (someone who believes in scientific knowledge), economist, and socialist. He was well-known for strongly disagreeing with the ideas of Marxism.
Early Life and Work
Eugen Dühring was born in Berlin, which was then part of Prussia. He first studied law and worked as a lawyer in Berlin until 1859. However, his eyesight began to fail, and he eventually became completely blind. This led him to change his focus and study the subjects he became famous for, like philosophy and economics.
In 1864, he started teaching at the University of Berlin. But he had a disagreement with the professors there and lost his teaching license in 1874.
Dühring wrote many books. Some of his important works include Capital and Labor (1865), The Value of Life (1865), and Critical History of Philosophy (1869). One of his most successful books was Critical History of the General Principles of Mechanics (1872). He also wrote about economics, philosophy, and logic. In 1881, he published a controversial book called The Jewish Question as a Racial, Moral, and Cultural Question.
In 1882, Dühring wrote his autobiography, which he titled Matter, Life, and Enemies. The word "enemies" in the title shows his strong and often critical personality. Dühring believed his philosophy was all about understanding reality as it truly is. He strongly disliked anything that tried to hide reality, like mysticism or certain religious beliefs. He felt that religion tried to keep the secrets of the universe hidden from us. Instead of religion, he offered ideas similar to those of other philosophers like Auguste Comte.
Dühring's ideas about economics were largely influenced by Friedrich List. However, Dühring and List had very different views on other topics, especially about Jewish people.
Dühring's Ideas
Throughout his life, Dühring was greatly influenced by the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Dühring's ideas changed over time. His early work, Natural Dialectics, was about critical thinking. Later, he moved towards positivism, which focuses on scientific facts. In his book Critical History of Philosophy, he disagreed with Immanuel Kant's idea that we can't fully understand reality. Dühring believed that our minds can grasp all of reality because the universe is made of one main thing: matter.
He thought that the laws of existence were the same as the laws of thought. In his system, Dühring believed that Nature had a purpose: to create conscious beings. He was an optimist and even thought that pain existed to make pleasure feel more intense and noticeable.
In terms of ethics (right and wrong), Dühring believed that sympathy (understanding and sharing the feelings of others) was the basis of morality, similar to Auguste Comte. In politics, he supported a type of ethical communism and disagreed with Herbert Spencer's idea of Social Darwinism (the idea that only the strongest survive in society).
In economics, he admired the American writer H. C. Carey. Carey's ideas suggested that the interests of business owners and workers could ultimately be in harmony. Carey also believed in a national economy, where a country should produce everything it needs within its own borders to help its culture and morals. Dühring was very patriotic, but his patriotism was narrow. He greatly admired Frederick the Great but strongly criticized Jews, Greeks, and the famous writer Goethe. His writing was clear and sharp, but it was often seen as arrogant and bad-tempered, perhaps due to his blindness.
Dühring was also a strong antisemite (someone who is prejudiced against Jewish people) throughout his life. He was one of the first people in Germany to promote racial antisemitism, which is prejudice based on race. In 1881, he published his pamphlet The Jewish Question as a Racial, Moral, and Cultural Question. This book tried to use false science to give antisemitism a basis in biology, history, and philosophy. He described the "Jewish question" as an unsolvable conflict between races and openly suggested extreme measures against Jewish people.
Dühring's Impact
Eugen Dühring is mainly remembered by English speakers because of Engels' famous book, Anti-Dühring: Herr Eugen Dühring's Revolution in Science. Engels wrote this book to argue against Dühring's ideas, which had gained some followers among the German Social Democrats. Dühring is also known as a socialist thinker criticized by Nietzsche.
Most of Dühring's work is not available in English, except for his writings on the Jewish question. His antisemitic ideas influenced later thinkers who promoted racism, such as Theodor Fritsch and Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Through these connections, Dühring's antisemitic views later became part of the racial beliefs of Nazism.
Dühring's philosophy was called "heroic materialism." He criticized capitalism, Marxism, and organized religions like Christianity and Judaism.
See also
In Spanish: Karl Eugen Dühring para niños
