SOURCE: McCoy, Charles N. R. “Ludwig Feuerbach and the Humanist Critique of Philosophy.” In The Structure of Political Thought: A Study in the History of Political Ideas, pp. 269-90. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1963.

In the following essay, McCoy considers Feuerbach's work as a transitional step between the thought of Hegel and Marx, and evaluates the cogency of his naturalist-humanist critique of philosophy.

The elements of a true critique of political economy and philosophy would have to penetrate Hegel's “mystical allure” and resolve “the absolute metaphysical spirit into the real man standing on the foundation of nature.” This was the contribution of Ludwig Feuerbach to whom must be credited the third great “outburst of revolution in the region of intellect.” It is “to the discoveries of Feuerbach” that, Marx acknowledges in his essay on Political Economy and Philosophy, “the positive and general critique [of political economy and philosophy...