The Heglians have an extremely Eurocentric outlook. Is this due to the amount of social power they had at the time or is this solely the product of an idea that formed this view?
On pages 14 and 15, Marx states, "Consciousness can never be anything else than conscious existence, and the existence of men is their actual life process," but then goes on to say, "Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life." Is he saying that 'man's production' equals consciousness or vice versa? There seems to be some contradiction between the "material activity" and the "material intercourse of men." If material intercourse = conceiving, thinking, and ideas, is that not considered consciousness?
Nature vs. the active man
*Page 19: natural religion. "consciousness is at first...concerning the immediate sensuous environment"
*Page 37: Feuerbach has a romantic, idealistic view of man and nature. "conceives of men not in their given social connection, not under their existing conditions of life, which have made them what they are, he never arrives at the really existing active men"
Without history, one is only left with the nature of himself.
By the idea that "consciousness [is determined] by life," and not vice-versa, I think that Marx is essentially stating the fundamental thesis of materialist philosophy - i.e. that our lives are produced by our material existence (not merely by our 'consciousness,' vis-a-vis Hegel?). That is, the project of social studies (e.g. history) should be to examine the material conditions of individuals and their "material intercourse" - by which I think Marx just means economy - in order to figure out people's lives.
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