There is a seminar room in the Philosophy Department of Jena University in Germany, where many thinkers and philosophers have given lectures. Fichte, a burly figure, knocked on the blackboard again and again: "Kant’s thing itself is redundant." Schelling shouted that his classmates would go to the yard with him to feel the beauty of nature. "Let’s go, don’t let spring wait." Hegel did not understand the kindness of his college roommate Schelling, and said coldly, "All cows in the night are black."
Young friends, from the words of these philosophers, you must have come to a conclusion: philosophy is really incomprehensible. Therefore, not to mention those students who have obtained the doctorate of philosophy, in the eyes of ordinary people, they are more like a group of "heterogeneous".
On April 15, 1841, a doctoral thesis defense meeting was held in this seminar room, but the defense scene was surprisingly quiet becauseThe protagonist of the defense didn’t appear. After reading the paper, the experts of the judges unanimously decided that this is an excellent doctoral thesis. Although I didn’t come, the situation was special, but I should still be awarded a doctorate.
thisThe "aliens" who didn’t attend the defense are our protagonists — — Marx.
So, how did Marx write his doctoral thesis? What did he write in his doctoral thesis? Why did you get a doctorate from Jena University? Don’t worry, let’s come together.
In 1836, Marx transferred to Berlin University to study philosophy. He was upgraded to a diligent "scholar". Every day, besides reading books, he also listened to doctors and young teachers arguing and chatting. These young people were loyal followers of Hegel’s philosophy and formed an academic group called "young hegelians". Among these people, one has the closest relationship with Marx. He not only helped Marx with his studies, but also helped Marx plan his future career. He was the mentor during Marx’s university — — Bruno Powell, a theological lecturer at the University of Berlin, played an important role in Marx’s life development and planning in the next few years. For example, it was with Powell’s encouragement that Marx decided to write his doctoral thesis, followed Powell’s suggestion, and finally sent it to Jena, where he obtained his doctorate.
It is only a short period of five years from Marx to the University of Berlin to study philosophy and then to his doctorate. But this period is extremely important for his academic development, ideological development and life development. This importance is embodied in the choice of the following three important things. Next, I will introduce three important things about him to you.
The first thing is to change majors.
Dear students, how did you choose your major in the college entrance examination? Are you satisfied with your major?
Like many of our classmates now, Marx faced the problem of dissatisfaction with his major in his youth. He initially followed his father’s advice and chose a popular law major, but soon found his real interest and transferred to a less popular philosophy major. Interest is the best teacher and the driving force to get rid of secular vision.
When Marx studied law at Bonn University according to his father’s wishes, his interest was not strong, and he even smoked, drank and played truant with other young people. Later, his father wrote to severely criticize him and warned him that if he neglected his studies, he would cut off his financial resources. Therefore, Marx chose to transfer to another school and major, and devoted himself to academic research with great enthusiasm.
horseAlthough Marx’s choice of philosophy is related to his interest, the more fundamental reason lies in the mission undertaken by philosophy.In Greek philosophy, philosophy is knowledge that loves wisdom, and philosophy is concerned with the origin of the world. Where did our world come from, and where did we humans come from? In modern times, philosophers have a deeper understanding of philosophy. Hegel said that philosophy is an era that is grasped in thought. Later, Marx said this sentence as "philosophy is the essence of the spirit of the times." These two expressions have a common element, that is, philosophy is closely related to the times, and philosophy is the most profound understanding of the times. Marx’s choice of philosophy is basically to deeply understand his era, its characteristics and its mission. Only philosophy can undertake this mission.
The second thing is that Marx wrote a paper.
Writing a thesis is a big test for many college students. The basic requirement of a qualified academic paper is to express your views on a certain issue and demonstrate your views, not only to ensure that your views are not backward or outdated, but also to be persuasive and supported by documents. For many liberal arts students, it is not difficult to look up documents and write opinions. What is difficult is to "gather words". Especially for doctoral dissertations, the number of words in an excellent doctoral dissertation in liberal arts is generally about 150,000-200,000 words, but for most people who don’t study for a doctoral degree, it is very likely that they will not be able to write so many words in their lifetime. What’s more, a Ph.D. thesis itself requires a standardized deduction and demonstration with philosophical concepts, which is simply difficult to go to the sky.
Since Marx chose his favorite philosophy major, he should show his superior strength in philosophy. The most direct way is to choose a most difficult topic in the already difficult philosophy field. This paper is best to be the most difficult of all papers, that is, the doctoral thesis, in one step.
At this time, Marx’s mentor Powell went to Bonn University to teach. He hoped that Marx would finish his doctoral thesis and get a doctorate as soon as possible, so that he could strive for a teacher position in Bonn University and work as a colleague together. So in the second half of 1840, Marx began to write his doctoral thesis. His doctoral thesis was titled "On the Difference between democritus’s Natural Philosophy and Ebinur’s Natural Philosophy".
Democritus, Epicurus and Natural Philosophy. What do these three words mean?
The first two words are the names of two ancient Greek philosophers. Natural philosophy is a research field in ancient Greek philosophy, which mainly discusses the origin and composition of the world. Interestingly, the two ancient Greek philosophers have discussed a common problem, that is, matter is composed of tiny and indivisible atoms, and matter moves and changes because of the movement of atoms themselves. So, what exactly is the movement of atoms? Democritus thought that the motion of the atom was a straight line motion along the established orbit, but Epicurus thought that the motion of the atom was a deflection motion containing contingency, which would leave the established orbit and realize its real intention — — Freedom.
Marx chose this topic because it is difficult to write and because it is related to Marx’s position. It can be said that Marx clearly put forward the position of freedom through this doctoral thesis.
Marx believes that the movement of atoms deviating from the orbit is tantamount to a "revolution" for the original established orbit. Marx devoted his whole life to the cause of revolution, which was the fate of the capitalist system in the name of liberalism and against the reality of human freedom, and he believed that real freedom is the all-round development of human beings, which can only be truly realized in a communist society.
The third thing is to change the school defense.
At the beginning of 1841, Marx’s doctoral thesis was finally finished. According to the doctoral degree training procedure, he still needed to defend his thesis before he could really get a doctorate in philosophy. However, no matter how well the paper is written, it must be appreciated, otherwise it will be difficult to pass the expert review and defense. At this time, Marx realized that for the increasingly conservative University of Berlin, it was difficult to conquer the authoritative experts with the viewpoint of freedom in his thesis, and he could only find a university that could recognize his academic views to defend. So, at Powell’s suggestion, Marx chose Jena University.
What kind of school is Jena University? Located in Thuringia in eastern Germany, it is a prestigious university in Germany. At present, its majors such as philosophy, optics and German education are still in the leading position in the world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the University of Jena was the center of modern European ideological movement. It was also an important town of legal research at that time. The father of the philosopher Feuerbach, the old Feuerbach, was a criminologist in Jena. Before Marx chose to defend at Jena University, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, important representatives of German classical philosophy, all taught in Jena successively. It can be said that this place is full of bright stars and liberal and enlightened style of study.
Therefore, Marx chose to obtain a doctorate from the University of Jena. Judging from the results, basically as Marx wished, the doctoral thesis was completed at the end of March 1841, and Marx sent it to the Philosophy Department of Jena University on April 6. On April 15, when Marx himself was not present, the thesis was unanimously passed, and the experts in the defense group decided to award Marx a doctorate in philosophy from Jena University. However, after Marx got his doctorate, did he successfully enter the university to teach? We’ll leave this question for you to solve later.
-Ben finished-
Teacher: Li Yushu
Next episode preview:
Marx finally found a job. This job is not what Marx wanted as a university teacher, but as an editor of Rheinische Zeitung in Cologne. When I first started editing, I was not happy, but then, Marx also found unexpected joy in his work. By paying attention to and studying the economic and social situation in the Rhine region, we can observe a real German society.
See you tomorrow ~
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