Le Origini della Sinistra Hegeliana: Heine, D. F. Strauss, L. Feuerbach, B. Bauer and La Critica antispeculativa di L. A. Feuerbach (review)

218 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY monist and a metaphysical pluralist.'" The epistemological monism, presumably, lies in Grote's "identifying idea and object," even though we "cannot deny the existence of the phenomena" (193) which are "matter and movement" (17), and "they are phenomena not phenomenon" (193). Moreover--and this is Grote's metaphysical pluralism-- "'reality is as pluralistic as the many selves that view it," and "there is the reality of many selves"-- "the term 'selves' is plural, implying metaphysical plurality" (194). But since the "essential part" of Grote's epistemology is "that blending.., of ourselves and our being with the known" (189), one wonders if this metaphysical pluralism does not logically culminate in metaphysical subjectivism. Unfortunately I am in no position to say who is more responsible for all the confusions--John Grote or Lauchlin MacDonald. W. H. WERKM'EISTER Florida State University Le Origini della Sinistra Hegeliana: Heine, D. F. Strauss, L. Feuerbach, B. Bauer and La Critica antispeculativa di L. A. Feuerbach. By Enrico Rambaldi. (Florence: La Nuova Italia, 1966. Pp. 407 and 192. Paper; L 3,500 and L 2,000) Philosophical and theological thought from the period of Hegel's intellectual dominance to that of Marx forms the subject matter of these two books. Enrico Rambaldi's approach to this topic is historical, that is, he traces the intellectual development of the Hegelian left (distinguishing it from "the center" and "the right") Chronologically and not critically. However, as Rambaldi himself writes, no definitive or evaluative opinion about the philosophical relations between Hegel and Marx can be made without a thorough treatment of the views of the minor figures who wrote during the period of Hegel's decline in influence and of Marx's growing importance, especially during that brief period described as "il periodo genetico critico" (La Critica, I, 4). Although Le Origini discusses the writings of Heine, Feuerbach, and Bauer, as well as Strauss, it is with the development of the latter's thought that Rambaldi is the most concerned. Thus Rambatdi writes that in the division of the Hegelian school into right, center, and left, the views of Strauss were of decisive importance. For Strauss, unlike Heine, for example, lived in Germany and thus in the German philosophical and theological community; moreover, Strauss possessed an extraordinary philosophical and theological background, whereas Heine displayed a dilettante attitude towards his views and studies (61). Generally speaking, Strauss insisted on historical, philological criticism of biblical texts and attempted to construct a new theology upon an empirical foundation. Thus Strauss maintained that theology is an empirical discipline and accordingly cannot be deduced a priori from concepts. Strauss's most important work, The Life of Jesus, was published in 1835, and this date is supposed to mark the initial formation of the Hegelian left. Here Strauss stressed two points which were extremeIy important to the development of subsequent thought: first, the impossibility of the deduction of the real from the rational, and second, the denial that the infinite is incarnate in a unique human and the affirmation that the universal is to be found incarnate in humanity (this affirmation was to form one of the main theses of Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity). In La Critica Rambaldi traces the transition in Feuerbach's thought from Hegelianism to anti-Hegelianism. This anti-Hegelianism arose from a crisis within Hegel's BOOK REVIEWS 219 view and not from reading the works of other philosophers (2). According to Rambaldi, this crisis began in a political-cultural battle which the young Hegelians waged in all fields, for example, religion, law, historiography. When these followers of Hegel felt that the latter's philosophy was inadequate for their needs, they abandoned it and seized a practical, empirical philosophy that justified and moreover demanded an attack upon the social-political situation of that time. In Feuerbach's early writings and even in his major work, The Essence of Christianity , he consistently strove for empirical concreteness in his corrections of Hegel's doctrine. According to The Essen'ce of Christianity, the only solution to the religious alienation of Christianity is to return religion to its earthly and human origin and thereby to reduce it to anthropology...