A Contribution to Interpretation of Feuerbach’s Suspicious Absence

Ricoeur’s conceptual framework of the “Masters of Suspicion” is rooted in the proposition that Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud advanced a profound reinterpretation of human consciousness, history, and culture by delving into concealed motives and latent meanings that often elude superficial observation. Each of them, in their unique manner, employed a methodology Ricoeur terms “hermeneutics of suspicion,” exposing foundational structures, desires, and conflicts that shape human experience in general and religious experience in particular. Their critiques of religion offered a deeper analysis, ultimately unveiling the intricate relation between societal structure (Marx), power dynamic (Nietzsche), and ideology (Freud). In this paper, we pose the question: Why does Ludwig Feuerbach, ostensibly one of the most committed practitioners of the hermeneutics of suspicion according to Ricoeur’s canon, not share this esteemed title with the others in Ricoeur’s ‘hall of fame’?