Dans le cadre de votre prochain séjour linguistique en Allemagne avec LEC, c’est sur l’un des intellectuels les plus marquants du pays que notre organisme a choisi de se pencher pour son Le saviez-vous du jour : Friedrich Engels. Qui était celui dont l’on fête aujourd’hui, 28 novembre, l’anniversaire de la naissance ? Réponse en quelques minutes, signée de nos équipes.
A well-off social background
Friedrich Engels was born in 1820 in Barmen, a town in the German Confederation; the area is now part of North Rhine-Westphalia, a state you may have the privilege of discovering during a language study trip to Germany with LEC. He was born into a wealthy family; his father had made his fortune in the textile industry.
The Encounter with Karl Marx
More interested in the literary and philosophical issues of his time than in the career his father had planned for him, he attended classes at the University of Berlin before breaking free from his religious beliefs in the early 1840s. It was during this period that he met the friend with whom he would form one of the most famous duos in philosophy: Karl Marx. The two men began working together. Together, they would write:
- The Holy Family, first published in 1845
- The Communist Manifesto, the famous political-philosophical essay commissioned by the Communist League, which Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels joined in 1847
The Final Years of Friedrich Engels
When Karl Marx died in 1883, Friedrich Engels carried on his friend’s work, drawing on the drafts the deceased had left behind. For his part, the native of Barmen died in London —like Karl Marx— on August 5, 1895, leaving behind a wife but no children. He is now recognized as one of the spiritual fathers of European socialism.