[Revised entry by Jonathan Wolff and David Leopold on March 27, 2025.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) is often treated as an activist rather than a philosopher, a revolutionary whose works inspired the foundation of communist regimes in the twentieth century. However – without denying that considerable, if complex, historical impact – Marx was trained academically as a philosopher (with a doctorate in ancient philosophy); he engaged directly with philosophical contemporaries and predecessors (including G.W.F. Hegel); and his extensive writings include much interesting and…

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