Scientia (Mar 2018)
Marx and Nietzsche’s Critique of Religion: Reflections on the Rise of Secularism
Abstract
This article discusses Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche’s critique of religion and its relevance to the rise of secularism. Marx reduced religion to the realm of the social, material and ideological. Nietzsche, on the other hand, provided historical and psychological explanations of religion. These discourses about religion shattered the spiritual and metaphysical foundation of religion as well as of religious truths. The ideas of Marx and Nietzsche contributed a lot to secularism that placed religion to the private sphere and recognized that all religions are equal. References Bataille, Georges. On Nietzsche, trans. Bruce Boone, USA: Paragon House, 1992. Baxter, Hugh. Habermas: The Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy, California: Standford University Press, 2011. Carver, Terrell Carver. A Marx Dictionary, New Jersey: Barnes & Noble Books,1987. Cimic, Esad. "Marx’s Critique of Religion and/or Atheism" in Journal of Ecumenical Studies, vol. XXII, Summer 1985, no. 3. Geller, Jay. "Table Dancing in an Opium Den: Marx’s Conjuration of Criticism out of ‘Criticism of Religion’ in 1844" in Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 26, 2014. Hoibraaten, Helge. Post-metaphysical Thought, Religion and Secular Society in The Holberg Prize Seminar 2005. Lauer, Quentin. "Response Occasioned by McGovern’s ‘Atheism: Is It Essential to Marxism?" in The Journal of Ecumenical Studies, vol. XXII, Summer 1985, no. 3. Marx, Karl and F. Engels. On Religion, Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1957. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil, trans. Marion Faber, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. ______________________. Ecce Homo, trans. Walter Kaufmann, New York: Vintage Books, 1989. ______________________. Human, All Too Human, trans. R.J Hollingdale, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ______________________. Twilight of the Idols and the AntiChrist, trans. Thomas Common, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2004. ______________________. The Will to Power, trans. Walter Kaufman and R.J. Hollingdale,ed. Walter Kaufman, New York: Vintage Books, 1968. ______________________. Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and Nobody, trans. Graham Parkes, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nolan, Lawrence and Alan Nelson. The Blackwell Guide to Descartes’ Meditations, ed. Stephen Gaukroger, USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2006. Ojoy, Virgilio A.. Marxism and Religion: A Fusion of Horizons. Manila: UST Publishing House, 2001. Scalia, Elizabeth. "Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev has a warning for the West" in Aleteia, September 26, 2017. Taylor, Charles. Dilemmas and Connections: Selected Essays, United States of America: Harvard University Press, 2011. _________________. The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere, Judith Butler et al., eds. Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan Van Antwerpen. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
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