From Hegel to Marx

This is still one of the most interesting treatments of the development of German classical philosophy from Hegel to Marx via the world of the Young Hegelians in the generation after the death of Hegel up to the revolutions of 1848. The string of remarkable figures, Strauss, Bauer, Ruge, Stirner, Hess, and Feuerbach, with whom Marx interacted needs a careful account from someone like Hook, although there have been a number of more recent accounts.

Sidney Hook analyzes the two philosophers utilizing opposition among Hegelian and Marxist theory: ethical idealism, dialectics, and continuity. This allows the reader to adopt the differences between the two influential authors,thereby introducing major theories written by Marx and Hegel. The remaining chapters interject comparisons between Karl Marx and esteemed German philosophers who studied Hegel, contributed or correlated with Marxist philosophy. Overall, the text forms an essential basis to the understanding and development of Marxist philosophy, and the struggles of a young-Hegelian in the nineteenth century.