The historicisation of the human senses from Feuerbach to Marx

This paper identifies and articulates a historicist turn in theorising the human senses initiated by Feuerbach and Marx. Both philosophers retain their predecessors' view that human needs determine human senses, but they identify historical contingencies of human needs that they treat as introducing historical contingency into the character of the human senses. In accounting for Feuerbach's and Marx's respective historicisations of the human senses, this paper challenges some commonplace ideas expressed by Honneth and Joas about German philosophical anthropology in general as well as, more specifically, Marx's critique of Feuerbach and the philosophical-anthropological legacy of Marxian thought.

Automated summary

This paper examines the historicist turn in theorizing the human senses initiated by Feuerbach and Marx, challenging common ideas about German philosophical anthropology. It also explores Marx's critique of Feuerbach and the philosophical-anthropological legacy of Marxian thought.