Joseph Dietzgen

Joseph Dietzgen
Born	December 9, 1828 (1828-12-09) Blankenberg, Germany
Died	April 15, 1888 (1888-04-16) (aged 59) Chicago, United States
Era	19th century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Continental philosophy Marxism
Main interests	Epistemology, logic, dialectics
Notable ideas	Dialectical materialism
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Peter Josef Dietzgen (December 9, 1828 – April 15, 1888) was a German socialist philosopher, Marxist and journalist.

Dietzgen was born in Blankenberg in the Rhine Province of Prussia. He was the first of five children of father Johann Gottfried Anno Dietzgen (1794–1887) and mother Anna Margaretha Lückerath (1808–1881). He was, like his father, a tanner by profession; inheriting his uncle's business in Siegburg. Entirely self-educated, he developed the notion of dialectical materialism independently from Marx and Engels as an independent philosopher of socialist theory. He had one son, Eugene Dietzgen.