The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer

Description

This is the first comprehensive study in English of Bruno Bauer, a leading Hegelian philosopher of the 1840s. Inspired by the philosophy of Hegel, Bauer led an intellectual revolution that influenced Marx and shaped modern secular humanism. In the process he offered a republican alternative to liberalism and socialism, criticized religious and political conservatism and set out the terms for the development of modern mass and industrial society. Based on in-depth archival research this book traces the emergence of republican political thought in Germany before the revolutions of 1848. Professor Moggach examines Bauer's republicanism and his concept of infinite self-consciousness. He also explores the more disturbing aspects of Bauer's critique of modernity, such as his anti-Semitism. As little else is available on Bauer even in German this book will be eagerly sought out by professionals in political philosophy, political science, and intellectual history.

'It is the product of over a decade of sustained research and has been built, not only upon a familiarity with the current concerns of political theory, but also upon an important archival discovery which significantly alters our conception of the foundations of Bauer's thought ... It will undoubtedly establish itself as the standard work in this field and should attract a readership beyond German and Hegel/Marx specialists since it is one of the few studies to apply new questions about republican thought to Hegelianism and nineteenth-century German thought.' Gareth Stedman Jones, King's College, Cambridge '... this book easily fulfils its main objective: it clearly establishes itself as the major work on Bruno Bauer in English, and as the major recent study of Bauer in any language.' History of European Ideas '... well-researched, competent study of republican themes in the pre-1848 work of Bruno Bauer ... Moggach has a thorough command of the writings of Bauer, Hegel, other primary thinkers of the period, and the relevant secondary literature. ... he knows intimately the events prompting particular writings by Bauer and their influence on contemporary politics and debates. Dense, albeit masterful, Moggach's analysis is necessary reading for all interested in Hegel and Hegelian studies.' CHOICE 'This book represents a major contribution to our understanding of Bruno Bauer and his place amongst fellow Young Hegelians ... an original and insightful interpretation of Bauer's republicanism, one that is grounded in an ethical and aesthetic critique of Hegel's late political philosophy. ... The implicit premise that seems to motivate Moggach's powerful interpretation of Bauer - one which might have been more explicitly articulated - is the following: in the wake of the historical exhaustion of socialism and in a period in which the unleashing of possessive individualism on a planetary scale portends a destructiveness whose limits correspond only to the continued existence of life itself, Bauer's political philosophy presents us with a serious alternative to both of these positions.' Samir Gandesha, Simon Fraser University, Canada 'Douglas Moggach's The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer is a detailed and exciting account of the life of one such priest of modernity who made it his life's work to herald the coming age of reason and freedom in view of the failed revolutions of the past. ... Moggach's work is ... an extremely valuable resource for those interest in late German idealism and also for those more broadly concerned with the modern project as it was advanced by figures such as Bauer.' H-Net Book Review