The critique and transcendence of Feuerbach’s philosophy of species constituted the intersection of Marx’s thought with that of Hess in 1844. In the “Notebook I” ofEconomic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, Marx encountered a theoretical crisis in his inability to derive the reality of human relations from the a priori essence of the species, and Hess’s introduction of externality, generation and history into the discourse on the essence of human beings with cooperation activity in On the Essence of Money constituted the theoretical precursor to Marx’s resolution of his intellectual crisis, allowing him to discover the empirical social relations in the division of labor and exchange. But Marx’s systematic study of classical political economics and his reassessment of Hegel’s dialectic in this period led him to delve further into the objectified labor behind exchange, revealing that the products of labor are not only the perceptual form of existence of person but also the empirical medium of human historical production, answering the question of how the historical production of man is possible and laying a solid theoretical foundation for a thorough purging of Feuerbach’s influence. Hess, on the other hand, rejected private property and money as mediums of particularity, resulting in his being able to achieve socialism only through the emotion of love and the awakening of consciousness, unable to truly overcome Feuerbach’s influence, and ultimately parting ways with Marx towards true socialism.

Editor: Zhong Yao、Zheng Yifan

From:Journal of Tsinghua University(Philosophy and Social Sciences).2023.No.3.