The Concept of Nature in Marx

The Concept of Nature in Marx (Der Begriff der Natur in der Lehre von Marx) is a 1962 book by the philosopher Alfred Schmidt. First published in English in 1971, it is a classic account of Karl Marx's ideas about nature.

Summary
The critic Terry Eagleton summarizes Schmidt as arguing that, according to Marx, "Human beings are part of Nature yet able to stand over against it; and this partial separation from Nature is itself part of their nature."

Reception
The Concept of Nature in Marx has been seen as a classic work. The philosopher Herbert Marcuse offers a discussion of the role of nature in Marxist philosophy informed by Schmidt's work in his Counterrevolution and Revolt (1972). The political scientist David McLellan describes The Concept of Nature in Marx as, "an important and well-documented consideration of the importance of Marx's materialism."