The Young Marx between ‘the End of Art' and ‘the Future of Art'

Although the young Karl Marx does not develop a coherent aesthetic theory, my paper seeks to highlight the influence of the Hegelian “end of art” theory within some of his early writings—namely, in the drafts of his dissertation. I will proceed with the following steps: In the first section I will discuss a) the categories of “end of art” and “future of art,” providing b) a short sketch of the differences between the Hegelian and Left Hegelian theories. In the second section I will c) analyze the distinctive features of the young Marx’s considerations of art. I will show how his aesthetic conceptualization depends, in some respects, on the Hegelian conception, which argues that Greek beauty cannot return in modernity. I also aim to show some differences between Marx’s and Left Hegelians’ theory of art.