KARL MARX

4° TRIER, BONN AND BERLIN 41
A few years later in The German Ideology he called Epicurus 'the genuine
radically-enlightened mind of antiquity', 12 ' and often referred to him in
similar terms in his later writings. This enthusiasm for Epicurus was also
seen in the appendix (to the thesis) which attacked Plutarch and particularly
his treatise entitled 'It is impossible to live happily by following the
principles of Epicurus'; 124 taking each of Plutarch's arguments separately,
Marx demonstrated that the opposite conclusion followed. Although now
it makes rather dry reading and often interprets the ideas of the ancients
in an inappropriately subtle Hegelian perspective, Marx's thesis was a
profoundly original work. One of those best qualified to judge has written
that 'it is almost astonishing to see how far he got considering the
materials then available'. 125
During these years Marx was not only concerned with writing his
thesis. The other projects he was engaged in similarly reflected the Young
Hegelian climate and the discussions in the Doctors' Club. He had planned
to edit a literary review and was much encouraged, 'since, through
the agency of Bauer, who plays a leading role among them, and of my
colleague Dr Rutenberg, all the aesthetic celebrities of the Hegelian
School have promised to contribute'. 126 But the only result of Marx's
literary endeavours was the appearance of two short poems in the Berlin
review Athenaeum in 1841: these poems were his first published work. In
early 1840 Marx was co-operating with Bruno Bauer in editing Hegel's
Philosophy of Religion and was thinking of writing a similar book himself.
He also considered giving a course of lectures at Bonn attacking Hermes,
a Catholic theologian who had tried to reconcile religion and Kantian
philosophy; like all his plans at the time, he discussed the project at length
with Bruno Bauer. By the summer of 1840 Marx had finished a book on
the subject and sent the manuscript to Bauer enclosing a letter to a
publisher, but the book was not in fact published, and Bauer wrote to
Marx about the covering letter: 'Perhaps you might write in such terms
to your washerwoman, but not to a publisher from whom you are asking
a favour.' 127 At the same time Marx had the idea of writing a farce entitled
Fischer Vapulans using it as a vehicle to attack Die Idea der Gottheit, K. P.
Fischer's philosophical attempt to justify theism. Marx was also much
concerned with logical problems and wanted to devote a work to dialectic:
he took extensive notes on Aristotle and discussed the question in letters
to Bauer; he proposed writing a criticism of the contemporary philosopher
Trendelenburg and demonstrate that Aristotle was dialectical whereas
Trendelenburg was only formal.
Meanwhile Bauer was full of good advice on how to finish his 'stupid
examination' and join him in Bonn. He had already written to Marx in
1840: 'You can tell Gabler [Professor of Philosophy in Berlin] of your