The Concept of Nature in Marx (German: Der Begriff der Natur in der Lehre von Marx) is a 1962 book by the philosopher Alfred Schmidt. First published in English in 1971, it is a classic account of Karl Marx's ideas about nature.[1]
The critic Terry Eagleton summarizes Schmidt as arguing that, according to Marx, "Human beings are part of Nature yet able to stand over against it; and this partial separation from Nature is itself part of their nature."[2]
Reception
The Concept of Nature in Marx has been seen as a classic work.[1] The philosopher Herbert Marcuse offers a discussion of the role of nature in Marxist philosophy informed by Schmidt's work in his Counterrevolution and Revolt (1972).[3] The political scientist David McLellan describes The Concept of Nature in Marx as, "an important and well-documented consideration of the importance of Marx's materialism."[4]
