Our discussion will focus on the basic, immediate philosophical background in classical German philosophy represented primarily by Kant, Hegel, Fichte and Schelling that Marx and Engels inherited. Russell will also mention a number of the other philosophical, economic, and political background issues that came into being and mixed in for Marx and Engels with classical German philosophy in the creation of their unique revolutionary thought—for example, the newly emerging systematic study of political economy, the positivism of August Comte (which also arises in the 1830s), and the various “utopian” socialist projects of that period.
Russell Dale is an activist and a philosopher. He teaches philosophy at Lehman College, CUNY. He taught classes on Hegel and various other topics for the last six years. Russell is also on the Manuscript Collective and Editorial Board of the Marxist journal Science & Society, as well as on the Local Station Board of radio station WBAI, 99.5 FM (wbai.org).