Karl Marx :: Biographies Philosophy Papers

Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in the city of Trier in Prussia,now, Germany. He was one of seven children of Jewish Parents. His fatherwas fairly liberal, taking part in demonstrations for a constitution forPrussia and reading such authors as Voltaire and Kant, known for theirsocial commentary. His mother, Henrietta, was originally from Holland andnever became a German at heart, not even learning to speak the langu timeproperly. Shortly before Karl Marx was born, his father converted thefamily to the Evangelical Established Church, Karl being baptized at theage of six.Marx attended high school in his home town (1830-1835) where severalteachers and pupils were under suspicion of harboring liberal ideals. Marxhimself seemed to be a devoted Christian with a longing for self-sacrificeon behalf of humanity. In October of 1835, he started attendance at theUniversity of Bonn, enrolling in non-socialistic-related classes like Greekand Roman mythology and the histo ry of art. During this time, he spent aday in jail for being drunk and disorderly-the only imprisonment hesuffered in the course of his life. The student culture at Bonn included,as a major part, being politically rebellious and Marx was involved,presiding over the Tavern Club and joining a club for poets that includedsome politically active students. However, he left Bonn after a year andenrolled at the University of Berlin to study law and philosophy.Marxs experience in Berlin was crucial to his introduction to Hegelsphilosophy and to his adherence to the Young Hegelians. Hegelsphilosophy was crucial to the development of his own ideas and theories. Upon his first introduction to Hegels beliefs, Marx felt a repugnance andwrote his father that when he felt sick, it was partially from intensevexation at having to make an idol of a view he detested. The Hegeliandoctrines exerted considerable pressure in the revolutionary studentculture that Marx was immersed in, however, and Marx eventually joined a participation called the Doctor Club, involved mainly in the new literary andphilosophical movement whos chief figure was Bruno Bauer, a lecturer intheology who eyeshot that the Gospels were not a record of History but thatthey came from human fantasies arising from mans emotional needs and healso hypothesized that Jesus had not existed as a person. Bauer was laterdismissed from his position by the Prussian government. By 1841, Marxsstudies were lacking and, at the suggestion of a friend, he submitted a