"It is the solar system of the mind."
— Marx, Karl (1818-1883)
Author
Date
1841
Metaphor
"It is the solar system of the mind."
Metaphor in Context
By contrast, Epicurus' theory of the celestial bodies and the processes connected with them, or his theory of meteors (in this one term he includes it all), stands in opposition not only to Democritus, but to the opinion of Greek philosophy as a whole. Worship of the celestial bodies is a cult practised by all Greek philosophers. The system of the celestial bodies is the first naive and nature-determined existence of true reason [Vernunft]. The same position is taken by Greek self-consciousness in the domain of the mind [Geist]. It is the solar system of the mind. The Greek philosophers therefore worshipped their own mind in the celestial bodies.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" at www.marxists.org
Citation
Marx, Karl. The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature.
with an Appendix. From Marx-Engels Collected Works. Vol 1. Progress Publishers, 1902. Transcription and Markup by Andy Blunden; online edition by Brian Basgen, marxists.org, 2000. <Link to www.marxists.org>
Date of Entry
07/28/2009
