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Martin Heidegger Critiques Karl Marx - 1969
Here, on German television, Heidegger rebuts Marx's famous claim that philosophers only interpret and do not actually change the world ... Heidegger replies that philosophy is essential in any *concept* of social-political change, including, of course, Marx's concept of a classless society: Richard Wisser: ... Do you think philosophy has a social mission? Heidegger: No! One can't speak of a social mission in that sense! To answer that question, we must first ask: "What is society?" We have to consider that today's society is only modern subjectivity made absolute. A philosophy that has overcome a position of subjectivity therefore has to say no in the matter. Another question is to what extent we can speak of a change of society at all. The question of the demand for world change leads us back to Karl Marx's frequently quoted statement from his Theses on Feuerbach. I would like to quote it exactly and read out loud: "Philosophers have only interpreted the world differently; what matters is to change it." When this statement is cited and when it is followed, it is overlooked that changing the world presupposes a change in the conception of the world. A conception of the world can only be won by adequately interpreting the world. That means: Marx's demand for a "change" is based upon on a very definite interpretation of the world, and therefore this statement is proved to be without foundation. It gives the impression that it speaks decisively against philosophy, whereas <b>...</b>