Ludwig Feuerbach was born on July 28, 1804, in Landshut, Bavaria, the fourth son of Paul Johann Anselm, a distinguished jurist, criminologist, and champion of liberalism, and Wilhelmina Tr"ster Feuerbach. Feuerbach's father, a temperamental and demanding man, ruled the family with stern authority, closely monitoring his children's education at all times. Feuerbach attended primary school in Munich and, in 1817, entered the Ansbach Gymnasium, completing his secondary education in 1822. The next year he enrolled at Heidelberg University to study theology where, in a course on speculative theology, he first became introduced to the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, whose thought heavily influenced Feuerbach throughout his lifetime. He was so taken with Hegel's ideas that within a year he transferred to the University of Berlin to study directly under the philosopher.

At Berlin, Feuerbach studied under theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher and Hegel, soon abandoning his religious studies in favor of philosophy...