Masters of Suspicion

Along with Darwin, the individuals we will discuss in this chapter played the largest roles in transforming Western society’s worldview from its Judeo-Christian foundation to radical postmodernism.

Karl Marx turned the Enlightenment’s ideal of social revolution against its twin ideal of capitalism. Freud’s understanding of human subconsciousness cast suspicionA philosophical concept articulated by Paul Ricoeur that some doubts drives the interpretation of consciousness as false. more on humans as “rational beings.” NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more completed the turn to secularOf the world in contrast to the divine. more humanismWas a movement during the Renaissance to recover and teach the ancient Greek and Roman classics, language, literature, rhetoric, poetry, and history to instill virtue and good government and influenced a concurrent movement within Christianity to reform of the Church... more in a nihilistic world with his observations on the death of God and the Will to Power.1

Ludwig Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more (1804–1872) initiated a form of suspicionA philosophical concept articulated by Paul Ricoeur that some doubts drives the interpretation of consciousness as false. more of religion which was later radicalized by Karl Marx (1818–1883), Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more (1844–1900) and Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). This approach to suspicionA philosophical concept articulated by Paul Ricoeur that some doubts drives the interpretation of consciousness as false. more of the existence of God is referred to as the hermeneutics of suspicionIs a term coined by the philosopher Paul Ricoeur to identify a method of interpreting cultural phenomena by seeking to uncover hidden or suppressed sources for the belief or activity being examined. Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud based much of their... more. The word hermeneuticsThe study of methods of interpretation. more refers to theories or methods of interpreting cultural phenomena to uncover their hidden mechanisms which obfuscate what is actually occurring. These masters of suspicionA philosophical concept articulated by Paul Ricoeur that some doubts drives the interpretation of consciousness as false. more tried to unmask the way religion inhibited people from dealing with reality.

Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more built on Hegel’s ideas but adjusted them to fit his views. He basically flipped Hegel’s idea of Spirit infusing itself into creation upside down. Instead, Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more maintained that humans created God in their own image, and that the key to understanding theology is anthropologyIn theology, this term refers to theories regarding human nature and the meaning of human existence. Usage of this term in theology is not to be confused with the discipline of cultural anthropology as taught in universities. more. He championed a materialistic philosophy in which all reality is material and truth is based on our interaction with this physical world through our senses. God is simply a projection of human attributes on a figment of our imagination.

Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more took Hegel’s concept of humanity progressing by developing greater self-consciousness—which is realized through the process of resolving the tension between a thesis and antithesis—and applied it to religion. He theorized that humanity created God as an antithesis of itself as a necessary step in humanity’s natural progression towards increased self-awareness. He explained this in the following way:

Religion is the disuniting of man from himself; he sets God before him as the antithesis of himself. God is not what man is—man is not what God is. God is the infinite, man is the finite being; God is absolutely positive, the sum of all realities; man the absolutely negative, comprehending all negations. But in religion man contemplates his own latent nature. Hence it must be shown that the antithesis, this differencing of God and man, in which religion begins, is a differencing of man from his own nature.

According to Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more, the concept of God is a human projection of the higher attributes of our own nature. As we alienate ourselves from God, we are able to more clearly view our true nature through the god we created in our minds. This becomes even more evident with the imagined incarnation of Jesus(c. 4 B.C.–A.D. 30-33) Also known as Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and Savior of the World. He is the founding figure of Christianity and accepted by Christians as the Son of God in the flesh. He taught... more. Humanity can see God as part of humanity, so we will no longer have the need to believe in a divine being. We can believe in ourselves and reappropriate that part of our true nature which we have ascribed to God.2

At its core, Karl Marx’s philosophy declared war on religion in general and on Christianity in particular, especially those branches which believe in free will. Even his attack on the state is couched in terms of it being a type of religious institution. As part of this religious war, the individual is sacrificed on the utopian’s altar of material equality in order to raise Hegel’s collective human consciousness to a new higher level of awareness. Karl Marx believed that religion is the primary means by which people delude themselves about their miserable existence and is the real source of inequality in their lives. He believed that the masses did not overthrow their oppressors because this false consciousnessThe idea that individuals delude themselves based on underlying cultural and social relationships. Marx introduced the concept to describe a form of self-deception caused by unfair economic relationships. more blinded them to the material reality of their exploited condition.

Marx was born in Germany to a Jewish family. He pretended to become a Christian in order to assimilate into society. He studied lawIs a fundamental concept of Luthernism and is contrasted by Luther with the Gospel. For Luther, the law consists of God’s commands regarding how one should live which no one can fully obey. Consequently, the law functions to condemn and... more and received a doctorate in philosophy in 1841. He hoped to have a career in academia, but his ideas were too radical. His part-time journalistic work allowed him to scrape by. In 1849, he moved to London where he lived for the rest of his life as a philosopher and social critic, relying on the economic support of his friend Friedrich Engels.

Marx married Feuerbach’s ideas regarding religion with Rousseau’s proposition that private property introduced inequality and social discord into the world. This synthesis produced Marx’s economic solution to societal ills: communism. However, Marx felt that Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more did not go far enough to reach the foundation of the issues Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more raised. Similar to Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more, Marx was a materialist and insisted that materialismRefers to the popular concept in ancient philosophy that all things are made out of some form of matter, including God and the human soul, consists of the basic elements of earth, water, air, fire, and potentially the element in... more was the essencethe English word generally used for the Greek term ousia, that is also translated as “being” or “substance” and refers to that which makes something what it is such as human nature is the essence of a human being. This... more of reality. He criticized Hegel(1770–1831) was a very influential philosopher in his day and espoused a philosophy based on historical consciousness that reflected the optimist colonization attitude of his day. He believed that the Protestant modern industrial world was the apex of human and... more, Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more and other young Hegelians for believing that humanity’s collective consciousness would change on its own simply by being exposed to new ideas. Marx felt they were too idealistic (ideologs) because they trusted in the power of ideas transforming humanity’s collective consciousness to usher in a new era of human existence. Marx insisted this was not possible because the masses had been deluded by religion and could not see the real cause of inequality and misery. He theorized that no change was possible until the foundation of material human existence was turned upside down. Only then would people be able to see material reality in its true light, and this collective self-consciousness would transform society to a higher level of existence.

Marx believed all thought is conditioned by the material and social context from which it arises. History was not simply the result of collective thought and new ideas which created communal increased self-awareness, but rather, it was physical activity that changed the way people think. Thus, all thought, including religion, was a biproduct of a material process. The only way to change our way of thinking is to change the conditions which frame our thoughts. Accordingly, in order to change human consciousness, one first needs to change the processes of material activity. One needs to change the social, economic, and political structures in order to change a collective worldview and the course of history.

Marx separated humanity into two classes: those who own and control the means of production and those who actually perform all the labor to produce products for the owners’ benefit. Society’s injustices are the result of the oppression of the workers by the owners. The key to achieving a material change in society was to abolish this dynamic. In 1848, Marx and Engels published their Communist Manifesto in which they advocated the abolishment of private ownership of property. After some bourgeois-led revolutions in Europe failed, Marx and Engels were convinced that a revolution of the workers was required to bring about drastic change and the utopia they envisioned. The workers needed to claim their right to the benefits of the wealth they created.

The problem they faced was that the masses did not share their vision. Marx largely blamed religion for this. Like Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more, Marx believed that men created God in their own image. But Marx disagreed with Feuerbach(A.D. 28 Jul 1804–13 Sep 1872) Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher who is often referred to as the first master of suspicion who greatly influenced subsequent skeptics like Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. He believed that the... more, who felt that religion served a purpose humanity would naturally outgrow. Instead, Marx felt that religion was the primary culprit keeping the lower class enslaved. He believed that humans invented religion to give them hope of a brighter future in an afterlife so they could cope with life’s injustices which were caused by the oppression of the owner class. Religion was a symptom of the greater struggle against oppression and a tool used to perpetuate it. Religion was like a drug that did not help cure the disease but simply dulled the sick person’s pain. He wrote:

The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly a struggle against the world, whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is at the same time an expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of a soulless condition. It is the opium of the people.3

Marx adopted Hegel’s idea that society’s consciousness (worldview) was a real force that transforms our temporalIs a technical term used in theology referring to this mortal physical existence in time as opposed to eternal divine existence outside of time. more existence and history. His plan to transform the world was based on the assumption that changing the way people viewed reality would automatically change the world. Marx believed that religion was the primary obstacle preventing humanity from realizing a higher level of consciousness and corresponding material state of existence.

Scholars point to Descartes’s radical doubt, and his epiphany that his personal consciousness confirmed existence, as the beginning of modern thought, along with its philosophy based on consciousness. Marx challenged this paradigm by doubting the reality envisioned by one’s consciousness. He, followed by NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more and Freud, postulated that humans mask reality through their consciousness in order to deal with their deep pains or illnesses. For Marx, this sickness was an unfair economic system. Religion was not just some inane philosophical concept scholars could debate; it was the product of a sick system used to perpetuate its dominance over humanity. Religion was a symptom of social and economic inequality and of the class conflict arising out of this injustice. Religion hid the root cause of the problem, and with it the social and economic dynamics causing this suffering, which perpetuated this condition.

But because religion was a byproduct of this unfair system, simply eliminating religion would not solve the problem. Since the whole world was infected by this disease, the state in essencethe English word generally used for the Greek term ousia, that is also translated as “being” or “substance” and refers to that which makes something what it is such as human nature is the essence of a human being. This... more was also a form of religious institution. Consequently, society needed to eliminate the state in order to eliminate religion.

Marx wrote about this issue in his essay On the Jewish Question. In Christendom, Jews were not considered citizens of the state because they were not Christians. With the rise of nations, the question arose as to what legal rights the Jews should enjoy. A young Hegelian named Bruno Bauer argued that the Jews would never become equal until the state was no longer Christian. Marx said this was insufficient. Religion, Christianity in particular, was too engrained in society, making the very form of the state into a religious instrument. The state itself needed to be eliminated and replaced with a whole new political and economic dynamic.

Marx explained this concept by arguing that the state serves as an intermediary between humanity and liberty just as ChristDerived from a Greek term meaning anointed and is equivalent to the word “messiah” from Hebrew roots. The anointing references the act of installing a new king similar to the modern custom of crowning a king, so the term “Christ”... more acts as the intermediary between man and the promised equality to be found in heaven. Marx pointed out that the equality Paul(c. 4 B.C.–A.D. 64) Apostle and early Christian missionary, whose letters are the earliest documents contained in the New Testament and thus the first extant writings in Christian theology. more promised in the Bible would only be realized in a purported afterlife.4 In this life, Paul(c. 4 B.C.–A.D. 64) Apostle and early Christian missionary, whose letters are the earliest documents contained in the New Testament and thus the first extant writings in Christian theology. more sustained slavery.5He equated this phantom promise with the false promise of equality by the modern state. Marx explained that individual freedom does not create universal freedom but isolates people and protects those in power from justice. True equality would never be realized until everyone was on the same economic footing. The abstract emancipation and equality promised by the modern state simply was not enough because inequality continued to exist in the real world. Marx put it this way:

Religion is simply the recognition of man in a roundabout fashion; that is, through an intermediary. The state is the intermediary between man and human liberty. Just as ChristDerived from a Greek term meaning anointed and is equivalent to the word “messiah” from Hebrew roots. The anointing references the act of installing a new king similar to the modern custom of crowning a king, so the term “Christ”... more is the intermediary to whom man attributes all his own divinity and all his religious bonds, so the state is the intermediary to which man confides all his non-divinity and all his human freedom.6

Hence, the state functions as a religious institution which perpetuates false promises of equality and freedom. According to Marx, the real divide and real battle is between: 1) the false promises based on a metaphysical existence and the reality of this material world, 2) the abstract concept of equality and the real-world reality of inequality, and 3) the public sphere of elusive equality versus the private life of injustice. Marx argued:

The members of the political state are religious because of the dualism between individual-life and species-life, between the life of civil society and the political life. They are religious in the sense that man treats political life, which is remote from his own individual existence, as if it were his real life.7

Marx believed that a religious mode of thinking was at the heart of the secularOf the world in contrast to the divine. more world, so true human emancipation from the delusions of religion’s false consciousnessThe idea that individuals delude themselves based on underlying cultural and social relationships. Marx introduced the concept to describe a form of self-deception caused by unfair economic relationships. more would only be realized by abolishing the state and world order as we know it.8

Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more is most famous for his statement, “God is dead,” which he wrote in his 1882 book, The Gay Science. People are less familiar with his discussion of the ramifications of that pronouncement. A few pages later, he metaphorically wrote:

Have you heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the marketplace and cried incessantly, ‘I seek God! I seek God!’—as many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. … The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. ‘Whither is God?’ he cried. ‘I tell you. We have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How did we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving … [b]ackward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying through an infinite nothing? … God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.’

With the death of God, the world lost meaning. Nietzsche’s philosophy centers on the cause and consequences of the reality of nihilismThe philosophy or view that there is no ultimate meaning or purpose of life. more. NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more realized the impact the loss of the belief in God would have on society. Everything becomes relative. There are no set morals, no fixed truth, and no purpose of existence. He wrote:

Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of the universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems, there was a star upon which clever beasts invented knowing. That was the most arrogant and mendacious minute of “world history,” but nevertheless it was only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths, the star cooled and congealed, and the clever beasts had to die.

One might invent such a fable, and yet he still would not have adequately illustrated how miserable, how shadowy and transient, how aimless and arbitrary the human intellect looks within nature. There were eternities during which it did not exist. And when it is all over with the human intellect, nothing will have happened.9

The Oxford Dictionary defines Nihilism as “the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.” NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more understood that an integral part of the human condition is a need for purpose. He asserted that people need to have an overarching goal to aim at, something to strive for. He referred to this need as the will, particularly the will for power. He recognized that individuals would endure extreme hardship if they knew it was for some worthy purpose. He said that this need to will was so strong that humans would prefer to invent a goal rather than have no purpose. This way they could pretend to establish order in their personal universe. That was why man fabricated the concept of God. But now, with the demise of God, the ordered cosmosthe idea that the universe is one harmonious and orderly system. more was no more and chaos reigned. That, however, had always been the case. Like Marx’s false consciousnessThe idea that individuals delude themselves based on underlying cultural and social relationships. Marx introduced the concept to describe a form of self-deception caused by unfair economic relationships. more, NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more believed that humans had been functioning under a similar self-imposed delusion. So, according to NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more, a person’s ultimate goal or life purpose was, in actuality, still willing nothingness because God was not real. So, even though the intellectuals had killed God, the masses would still see his shadow on the walls of their caves for a long time to come.

In order for society to advance, we must devise some new viable alternative to God so humans can have something real to will. NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more rejected the typical socially accepted objectives like being kind or seeking the good of the whole. He said that Western morality was based on the lie of the ascetic ideal. He insisted that throughout history the driving force behind human interactions was a struggle for power, and we could understand the development of the counterproductive Judeo-Christian morality by viewing it through that lens.

Initially, morality was a personal issue based on what was good for each individual. In essencethe English word generally used for the Greek term ousia, that is also translated as “being” or “substance” and refers to that which makes something what it is such as human nature is the essence of a human being. This... more, there was the noble morality and the slave morality, each based on what pleased a particular class. The nobles were the strong parties in society and moved it forward by seeking their personal wellbeing. Slaves, however, resented the nobles’ power and the imposition on their desire to enjoy the good things in life. With the invention of God, a class of priests emerged who cultivated this resentment toward the nobles by calling it evil. The leaders’ exercise of strength by dominating others was reprehensible. They should be kind, and share their bounty with others. Thus began the ascetic ideal. It is good to sacrifice one’s own interest for the benefit of others. However, the priests were actually hypocrites. They devised this new morality in a power grab for themselves, not for some altruistic purpose. As the nobles began to accept the ascetic ideal, the priests gained power over the nobles. This whole process culminated with the advent of Christianity, in which God himself came down to die for sinners. For NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more, this whole self-sacrificing worldview was a problem that prevented individuals from enjoying life, which was all they had.

NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more found it difficult to come up with a viable alternative to religion, but he explored a few ideas. Primarily, he proposed an affirmation of life based on the Greek god Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy. For NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more, human existence was not about living a good life to go to heaven or a quest for humanity to realize some future utopia. It was about the here and now while we hoped for the future.10

Not surprisingly, NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more struggled with depression. At forty-four years of age, he was institutionalized and died of pneumonia a year later. A couple of years before he died, NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more moved to Turin, Italy, where his landlord noticed that he exhibited strange behaviors, such as talking loudly to himself, stuffing his wastebasket with shredded currency, dancing naked, and insisting that all the pictures be removed from his quarters so it resembled a temple. On January 3, 1889, he created a public disturbance and assaulted two police officers who arrived to quell the ruckus. A friend arranged for him to be admitted to a psychiatric asylum in Basel, Switzerland. He was later released to the care of his sister.

Many scholars have argued that Nietzsche’s dementia was caused by syphilis. A careful review of the evidence suggests that this consensus is probably incorrect. The syphilis hypothesis is not compatible with most of the evidence available. Other hypotheses—such as slowly growing right-sided retro-orbital meningioma—provide a more plausible fit to the evidence.11

Some feel he simply couldn’t handle nihilismThe philosophy or view that there is no ultimate meaning or purpose of life. more.

Like Feuerbach, Marx and Nietzsche, Freud believed that God was a self-imposed delusion. He argued that religion could be demystified and explained from a psychological perspective. He said religion was an illusion that facilitated our ability to repress our deep-seated internal conflicts which were at the heart of our psychic lives. This repression led to neurosis, which was the indirect expression of repressed desires through coded means which hid the real conflict. Freud called religion the “universal obsessional neurosis of mankind.” He claimed that this neurosis originated from our simultaneous love and hatred of our father. The idea of God arose out of this conflict, enabling us to profess our love for our surrogate father who would forgive our sin of hating him, thus fulfilling our innate wish.12

Each of these four masters of suspicion played a major role in forming the generally accepted secular worldview of modern Western society.

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