Karl Marx on Species Essence of a Human Being

The article is based on a detailed textual analysis is the attempt of historicalphilosophical explication of the formation of Karl Marx’s teaching about the species essence of human beings (Gattungswesen des Menschen). In modern studies of Marx’s philosophy, the view according to which Marx understands the nature of human beings only as «the ensemble of social relations» dominates. However, as the author shows, there are several definitions in Marx’s texts. Thus, the species essence of human beings is defined as: (1) true social relation of people, genuine community (Gemeinwesen); (2) praxis (Praxis); (3) creative activity (productive Tätigkeit, Selbstbetätigung); (4) ensemble of social relations (das ensemble der gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse). Constitutive moments of the human essence arising from the praxis as a basic characteristic of a person are: objectivity, intersubjectivity, sociality, historicity and existential indifference. It is shown that according to Marx the species essence of human being is not given by nature but arises in the course of historical development. Moreover, in the «Capital» Marx distinguishes between an invariant essence (Praxis) and the historical modifications of praxis. So, the history is understood as a «continuous change of human nature». For thefirst time in the history of philosophy, the historical sequence of the development of Marx’s ideas about the species essence of man is explicated. Despite the radical changes in Marx's philosophical preferences (the transition from Fichte’s subjective idealism to Hegel’s objective idealism and then to materialism), his ideas about the species essence of human beings however has been changing not so much as series of «jumps», but rather as a dialectical movement towards a deeper, comprehensive development and enrichment of the original humanistic intuitions, which eventually led him to the formulation of the original concept of human being.

Keywords: Karl Marx’s philosophy; species essence of human being; praxis; ensemble of social relations; sociality; objectivity; historicity; existential indifference