The Philosophie gives detailed prescriptions for the organisation of the state of the future. Here Rousseau, although the sole important forerunner {D. Ph. 264} of Herr D hring, nevertheless did not lay the foundations deep enough; his more profound successor puts this right by completely watering down Rousseau and mixing in remnants of the Hegelian philosophy of right, also reduced to a watery mess. The sovereignty of the individual {268} forms the basis of the D hringian state of the future; it is not to be suppressed by the rule of the majority, but to find its real culmination in it. How does this work? Very simply. Now the sovereignty of the individual consists essentially in that But it does not matter what we want. What matters is what Herr D hring wants. And he differs from Frederick II in this, that in the D hringian future state certainly not everyone will be able to be happy in his own way. The constitution of this future state provides: All religion, however, is nothing but the fantastic reflection in men s minds of those external forces which control their daily life, a reflection in which the terrestrial forces assume the form of supernatural forces. In the beginnings of history it was the forces of nature which were first so reflected, and which in the course of further evolution underwent the most manifold and varied personifications among the various peoples. This early process has been traced back by comparative mythology, at least in the case of the Indo-European peoples, to its origin in the Indian Vedas, and in its further evolution it has been demonstrated in detail among the Indians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Germans and, so far as material is available, also among the Celts, Lithuanians and Slavs. But it is not long before, side by side with the forces of nature, social forces begin to be active forces which confront man as equally alien and at first equally inexplicable, dominating him with the same apparent natural necessity as the forces of nature themselves. The fantastic figures, which at first only reflected the mysterious forces of nature, at this point acquire social attributes, become representatives of the forces of history. *16 At a still further stage of evolution, all the natural and social attributes of the numerous gods are transferred to one almighty god, who is but a reflection of the abstract man. Such was the origin of monotheism, which was historically the last product of the vulgarised philosophy of the later Greeks and found its incarnation in the exclusively national god of the Jews, Jehovah. In this convenient, handy and universally adaptable form, religion can continue to exist as the immediate, that is, the sentimental form of men's relation to the alien, natural and social, forces which dominate them, so long as men remain under the control of these forces. However, we have seen repeatedly that in existing bourgeois society men are dominated by the economic conditions created by themselves, by the means of production which they themselves have produced, as if by an alien force. The actual basis of the religious reflective activity therefore continues to exist, and with it the religious reflection itself. And although bourgeois political economy has given a certain insight into the causal connection of this alien domination, this makes no essential difference. Bourgeois economics can neither prevent crises in general, nor protect the individual capitalists from losses, bad debts and bankruptcy, nor secure the individual workers against unemployment and destitution. It is still true that man proposes and God (that is, the alien domination of the capitalist mode of production) disposes. Mere knowledge, even if it went much further and deeper than that of bourgeois economic science, is not enough to bring social forces under the domination of society. What is above all necessary for this, is a social act. And when this act has been accomplished, when society, by taking possession of all means of production and using them on a planned basis, has freed itself and all its members from the bondage in which they are now held by these means of production which they themselves have produced but which confront them as an irresistible alien force, when therefore man no longer merely proposes, but also disposes only then will the last alien force which is still reflected in religion vanish; and with it will also vanish the religious reflection itself, for the simple reason that then there will be nothing left to reflect. Herr D hring, however, cannot wait until religion dies this, its natural, death. He proceeds in more deep-rooted fashion. He out-Bismarcks Bismarck; he decrees sharper May laws  not merely against Catholicism, but against all religion whatsoever; he incites his gendarmes of the future against religion, and thereby helps it to martyrdom and a prolonged lease of life. Wherever we turn, we find specifically Prussian socialism. After Herr D hring has thus happily destroyed religion, The first course of events whereby man is made to rely on himself is: being born. Then, The universal people s school will provide As for the aesthetic side of education, Herr D hring will have to fashion it all anew. The poetry of the past is worthless for this purpose. Where all religion is prohibited, it goes without saying that the mythological or other religious trimmings characteristic of poets up to now cannot be tolerated in this school. Poetic mysticism , too, such as, for example, Goethe practiced so extensively , is to be condemned. Herr D hring will therefore have to make up his mind to produce for us those poetic masterpieces which are in accord with the higher claims of an imagination reconciled with reason , and represent the genuine ideal, which denotes the consummation of the world {D. Ph. 423}. Let him not tarry with it! The economic commune can achieve its conquest of the world only when it moves along at the Alexandrine double, reconciled with reason. The adolescent citizen of the future will not be much troubled with philology. But all this would still fall far short of making the young citizen of the future rely on himself . To achieve this, it is necessary here again to lay a deeper foundation, by means of We must skip the university of the future, in which the philosophy of reality will be the kernel of all knowledge, and where, alongside the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Law will continue in full bloom; we must also omit the special training institutions , about which all we learn is that they will be only for a few subjects . Let us assume that the young citizen of the future has passed all his educational courses and has at last been made to rely upon himself sufficiently to be able to look about for a wife. What is the course of events which Herr D hring offers him in this sphere? Hold on there! Herr D hring cries. This is not at all what was meant. Give me a chance to explain! Herr D hring s noble ideas about the female sex in general can be gathered from the following indictment of existing society:
1877: Anti-Duhring - State, Family, Education