Theses on Feuerbach

The Theses are the most concentrated philosophical statement of dialectical-materialist Marxism. Every twentieth-century Marxist tradition engages them as foundational.

"The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it." (Thesis XI)

Marx's Thesis II — that the question of objective truth is to be answered in practice — has been read by pragmatists (Sidney Hook, Dewey) as a parallel to pragmatist epistemology.

"The question whether objective truth can be attributed to human thinking is not a question of theory but is a practical question." (Thesis II)

The doctrine of human nature as "the ensemble of social relations" is one of the foundational statements of social-constructivist anthropology.

"The human essence is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its reality, it is the ensemble of the social relations." (Thesis VI)

Marx's relational ontology of human nature has process-philosophical resonances; Whitehead and process Marxists have explored the convergence.

"Human essence is the ensemble of social relations." (Thesis VI)

The Theses' programmatic naturalism — practical human activity as the test of theoretical questions — is consistent with broader philosophical naturalism.

"Social life is essentially practical." (Thesis VIII)

The Eleventh Thesis's call to change rather than merely interpret the world is foundational for liberation theology's engaged-theological method.

"Philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it." (Thesis XI)

Marxist tradition.