"Not afraid of divine might, not afraid of lightning, not afraid of the thunder of the sky..."
"'It is not the one who blasphemes the gods whom the multitudes worship, but the one who imposes the opinions of the multitudes on the gods'"
"'I hate all gods.'" Against all gods in heaven and on earth. ”
This is Marx's imposing manifesto in the preface to his doctoral dissertation.
(i)
Marx most admired the "core" of Epicurus's philosophy, which was his spirit of ruthless criticism of religion and the spirit of fighting atheism. With great courage, Marx exalted Prometheus, praising him as a martyr of freedom, as an enemy of the gods and a symbol of human friends.
Prometheus was a benevolent and rebellious god in ancient Greek mythology. He violated the prohibition of the main god Zeus by stealing the Heavenly Fire and giving it to mankind, and imparting various skills and knowledge to mankind.
Zeus, seeing that there was a fire in the world, was very angry, and ordered Prometheus to be chained to the rocks on the top of the Caucasus, and every day he asked a great eagle to peck at his liver, and the liver that pecked at at night was restored. Day after day, day after day, tormented for thirty thousand years. He endured the pain and fought Zeus to the end, and was finally liberated.
Marx was determined to carry forward the spirit of Prometheus to the people in order to join the people in violently storming the prisons of retreat, oppression and ignorance. He compares those who defend all antiquity, obsolescence, and reaction to Hermes, the messenger of God, the slave of the Greek gods on Mount Olympus.
Here Marx openly affirms his atheistic ideas. He believed that the belief in God reflected the lower stage of the development of consciousness, that man's self-consciousness was superior to that of the gods, that God could not be compared with man's self-consciousness, and that he was determined to wage a resolute and ultimate struggle against religion, divine power, and feudal despotism. This fighting atheism of Marx prompted his later shift in thought to materialism.
(ii)
Epicurus was the preeminent materialist of antiquity, the first to overthrow the gods, openly challenging religion, and he laid the foundations of atheism in ancient Rome. Thus, Marx called him "the greatest Greek Enlightenment thinker."
There is no doubt that Marx's selection of the treatise "On the Difference Between democritus' Natural Philosophy and Epicurus's Natural Philosophy" is closely related to his concern with the emancipation of man and the question of social progress. Marx interpreted what Epicurus called "spontaneous deflection" as an embodiment of the principle of agency. He believes that only by proceeding from Epicurus's atheism and the principle of "automatic deflection" can people not be afraid of divine power, not afraid of rape, bravely oppose the dark forces of religion, and transform the irrational world.
In Marx's view, Epicurus's atheism and the "atom's automatic deflection" provided a theoretical basis for his doctrine of freedom. It is precisely because of this that Marx spoke highly of the unique revolutionary spirit and far-reaching influence of Epicurus's philosophy.
Since Marx at that time attached great importance to the solution of practical problems, he did not agree with Hegel's views on the relationship between philosophy and reality. Hegel believed that the application of philosophy to practical life was an "insult" to philosophy, and therefore vigorously opposed "philosophical interference in life", while Marx did not, and he particularly emphasized the special role of philosophy as a means of transforming the real world. He believed that the power of philosophy lay in transforming the irrational real world through criticism, enlightenment, and knowledge, and that philosophy must intervene in real life.
It was precisely on this point that Marx had a disagreement with a group of young Hegelians. The young Hegelians reduced philosophy to the "mind", to the criticism of reason, which completely divorced it from real life. Marx, on the other hand, tried to link philosophy to real life.
Marx likened philosophy to Prometheus, who believed that philosophy was "like Prometheus, who began to build a house on earth and make a home after stealing the heavenly fire from heaven", "after grasping the whole world, he rose up against the phenomenal world" and changed the face of the world again.
This difference between Marx and the philosophy of the young Hegelians is not accidental, but a theoretical manifestation of marx's different attitudes towards social reality with them. This was also the fundamental reason why Marx later broke with them completely.
As soon as Marx discovered the inequality and irrationality that existed in real society, he set out to explore the root causes of this phenomenon and to find a weapon to eliminate it. The reason why he tirelessly dabbled in the vast sea of knowledge is precisely for this purpose. What is even more important and valuable is that Marx immediately put it into action, carried out heroic and tenacious practice, and launched an indomitable struggle.
In short, in his doctoral dissertation, Marx not only embodied the spirit of unity between inheritance and innovative development, but also embodied the spirit of revolutionary criticism and the spirit of fighting atheism.
Marx's political views showed that he was already a revolutionary democrat by this time. These foreshadowed and prelude the fact that he would soon be founding a materialist philosophy.
(iii)
The phD thesis was too rhetorical, pointing sharply at religious theology and feudal absolutism—opposing religion's repression of philosophy and the individual, demanding the liberation of man from religious bondage, and politically opposing autocracy.
Marx's best friend Powell advised him to re-polish his thesis and to thwart some "edges and corners" so as not to cause difficulties and persecution by the reactionary authorities.
Marx understood this, too, but he did not change his word, because the combat effect of the paper was exactly what he wanted to see.
Once the clarion call for war is blown to reactionary despotism and religious theology, he will not turn back, nor will he worry about the possibility of what he criticized in his papers, and he will definitely come to fight back and retaliate, and he will resolutely and resolutely move forward.
Marx again borrowed a quote from Prometheus to express his resolve:
Listen,
I will never use my own pain,
to exchange the service of slaves,
I'd rather be tied to a rock,
Nor did he want to be a loyal servant of Zeus.
This became almost a metaphor for Marx's life, a confession of himself destined to become Prometheus's second in the midst of struggle and suffering.
In order to avoid unnecessary political troubles and to pass his doctoral dissertation, which was full of independent opinions and political tendencies, Marx sent it to the University of Jena, which was considered to have a relatively liberal political atmosphere at that time.
Professor Bachmann, head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Jena, read the paper, was deeply impressed by Marx's rigor, erudition and independent analytical ability, and soon wrote the following recommendation: the candidate was highly intelligent, insightful, knowledgeable, and fully qualified for a degree.