Editing German philosophy (section)

====Young Hegelians====
The [[Young Hegelians]] drew on Hegel's idea that the purpose and promise of history was the total negation of everything conducive to restricting freedom and reason; and they proceeded to mount radical critiques, first of religion and then of the Prussian political system. They felt Hegel's apparent belief in the end of history conflicted with other aspects of his thought and that, contrary to his later thought, the dialectic was certainly ''not'' complete; this they felt was obvious given the irrationality of religious beliefs and the empirical lack of freedoms—especially political and religious freedoms—in existing Prussian society. They rejected anti-utopian aspects of his thought that "Old Hegelians" have interpreted to mean that the world has already essentially reached perfection. They included [[Ludwig Feuerbach]] (1804–72), [[David Strauss]] (1808–74), [[Bruno Bauer]] (1809–82) and [[Max Stirner]] (1806–56) among their ranks.

[[Karl Marx]] (1818–83) often attended their meetings. He developed an interest in Hegelianism, French socialism, and British economic theory. He transformed the three into an essential work of economics called ''[[Das Kapital]]'', which consisted of a critical economic examination of capitalism. [[Marxism]] became one of the major forces on twentieth century world history.

It is important to note that the groups were not as unified or as self-conscious as the labels 'right' and 'left' make them appear. The term 'Right Hegelian', for example, was never actually used by those to whom it was later ascribed, namely, Hegel's direct successors at the Fredrick William University (now the [[Humboldt University of Berlin]]). (The term was first used by David Strauss to describe Bruno Bauer—who actually was a typically 'Left', or Young, Hegelian.)

<gallery class="center" |width="100" |height="100">
File:Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach.jpg|[[Ludwig Feuerbach]]<br>(1804–72)
File:1908 David-Friedrich-Strauss.jpg|[[David Strauss]]<br>(1808–74)
File:Bruno Bauer.jpg|[[Bruno Bauer]]<br>(1809–82)
File:MaxStirner1.svg|[[Max Stirner]]<br>(1806–56)
File:Karl Marx 001.jpg|[[Karl Marx]]<br>(1818–83)
</gallery>