Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 7, 2025

Reinterpreting Sensuousness in Marx’s Philosophy—The Philosophical Thread and Motif of The German Ideology

(Abstract)

Liu Senlin

Unlike the newly published MEGA2 edition of The German Ideology (Die Deutsche Ideologie), which positions Max Stirner’s chapter as the core of the text, this paper contends that both Ludwig Feuerbach and Stirner constitute the dual critical focus of the canonical work of Marx and Engels. Unlike Bruno Bauer, who remained entrenched within the confines of subjective philosophy, both Feuerbach and Stirner undertake a decisive turn from negative (speculative) philosophy to positive (empirical) philosophy. Yet both remained partial and incomplete in their affirmation of this new philosophical direction. A central aim of the emerging philosophy was to reconstruct theory and reason through the incorporation of sensuous experience, emotion, desire, and interest—ultimately moving beyond the confines of traditional metaphysics. While Feuerbach and Stirner failed to decisively overcome the denigration of sensuousness in traditional metaphysics, they nevertheless laid the groundwork for a new, albeit one-sided, metaphysical framework grounded in sensuous interpretation. In contrast, “real positive science” envisioned by Marx and Engels enables a rethinking of sensuousness and its relation to reason, while also reconceptualizing the relationship between philosophy and empirical science.