Feuerbach, Ludwig Andreas

PHILOSOPHER (GERMANY)
BORN 28 Jul 1804, Landshut, Bayern - DIED 13 Sep 1872, Nürnberg, Bayern
GRAVE LOCATION Nürnberg, Bayern: Sankt-Johannis Friedhof (IIK, 075)

Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach was the son of the lawyer ansel Feuerbach. In 1824 he moved to Berlin to attend Hegel's lectures. In 1828 he moved to Erlangen where he worked as a private teacher. Between 1833 and 1837 he published three books. An academic career was impossible after he refused to swear that he wasn't the author of the anonymously published "Thoughts on Death and Immortality" (1830) in which he made fun of religious doctrines.

In 1837 he married Bertha Löw, who owned part of a porcelain factory in Bruckberg near Ansbach. In Bruckberg he lived as an independent scholar.

During the 1840s he was the leader of a group that was known as the Young Hegelians. They rebelled against academic tradition and the strong ties between philosophy, Christianity and the state of Prussia. Many of his writings were ignored, but in later hears some regarded his writings as a bridge between Hegel and Marx.

From 1841 onwards Feuerbach developed feelings for Johanna Kapp (1824-1883), the young daughter of his best friend Christian Kapp. They fell in love and their affair lingered on until he decided to return to his wife in 1846. But his feelings for Johanna hadn't disappeared and in 1849 she refused the hand of Gottfried Keller before shoe moved to Munich to study painting with Bernard Fries.

In 1848 he was asked by the students at Heidelberg University to give a series of lectures, but facilities were denied to him by the University. As a result he lectured in the town hall. The failure of the Frankfurt Assembly of 1848 was a huge disappointment to him. A plan to emigrate to the USA didn't materialize and he retired to Buckberg.

In 1860 the porcelain factory went bankrupt and he moved to Rechemberg near Nürnberg where friends supported him financially. He published little in his final years and died after a long illness in 1872.

Family
• Father: Feuerbach, Paul Johann Anselm, Ritter von
• Brother: Feuerbach, Joseph Anselm

Related persons
• influenced Jodl, Friedrich
• influenced Keller, Gottfried
• influenced Marx, Karl Heinrich
• was opponent of Stirner, Max

Images

The grave of Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach at the Sankt-Johannis Friedhof, Nürnberg.
Picture by Androom (11 Aug 1998)

 

Sources
• Aubert, Joachim, Handbuch der Grabstätten berühmten Deutscher, Österreicher und Schweizer, Deutscher Kunstverlag, München, 1973
Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909
Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Das Wesen der Religion
Nuernberg-Seite


Feuerbach, Paul Johann Anselm, Ritter von

Published: 26 Dec 2008
Last update: 05 Mar 2024