the humanly ennobled form of sexual excitement， which in its intense manifestation is passionate love ， when reciprocated is the best guarantee of a union which will be acceptable also in its result... it is only an effect of the second order that from a relation which in itself is harmonious a symphoniously composed product should result. From this in turn it follows that any compulsion must have harmful effects" {247} -- and so on.
And thus all ends the very best way in the best of all possible socialitarian worlds： club-foot and hunchback love each other passionately， and therefore in their reciprocal relation offer the best guarantee for a harmonious "effect of the second order"； it is all just like a novel -- they love each other， they get each other， and all the deeper and stricter morality {396} turns out as usual to be harmonious twaddle.
Herr Dühring's noble ideas about the female *** in general can be gathered from the following indictment of existing society：
"In a society of oppression based on the sale of human being to human being， prostitution is accepted as the natural complement of compulsory marriage ties in the men's favour， and it is one of the most comprehensible but also most significant facts that nothing of the kind is possible for the women " {291-92}.
I would not care， for anything in the world， to have the thanks which might accrue to Herr Dühring from the women for this compliment. But has Herr Dühring really never heard of the form of income known as a petticoat-pension {Schurzenstipendien} ， which is now no longer quite an exceptional thing？ Herr Dühring himself was once a referendary [129] and he lives in Berlin， where even in my day， thirty-six years ago， to say nothing of lieutenants Referendarius was used often enough to rhyme with Schurzenstipendarius！
May the reader permit us to take leave of our subject， which has often been dry and gloomy enough， on a note of facetiousness and reconciliation.
So long as we had to deal with the separate issues raised， our judgment was bound by the objective， incontrovertible facts， and on the basis of these facts it was often enough necessarily sharp and even hard. Now when philosophy， economics and socialitarian system all lie behind us； when we have before us the picture of the author as a whole， which we had previously to judge in detail -- now human considerations can come into the foreground；at this point we shall be permitted to trace back to personal causes many otherwise incomprehensible scientific errors and conceits， and to sum up our verdict against Herr Dühring in the words： mental incompetence due to megalomania.
1877： Anti-Duhring -- NotesN O T E S From the MECW [1] Anti-Dühring is the title under which Engels' classical work Herr Eugen Dühring's Revolution in Science is widely known.
The attention of Marx and Engels was first drawn to Dühring when his review of Volume One of Capital was published in Erg?nzungsbl?tter ， Vol. III， issue No. 3， in December 1867. They expressed a critical attitude towards him in a number of letters of January to March 1868.
In the mid-1870s， Dühring exerted quite a significant influence on German Social-Democrats. The second edition of Kritische Geschichte der National?konomie und des Sozialismus (November 1875) and the publication of Cursus der Philosophie als streng wissenschaftlicher Weltanschauung und Lebensgestaltung (the last issue appeared in February 1875) made his views more popular. His most active followers were Johann Most， Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche and Eduard Bernstein. Even August Bebel came under the influence of Dühring's views for a short time. In March 1874， two of Bebel's articles about Dühring published anonymously under the title "Ein neuer 'Communist'" in the Volksstaat ， the central organ of the Social-Democratic Workers' Party (Eisenachers)， aroused sharp protest on the part of Marx and Engels.
The spread of Dühring's views made Liebknecht， on February 1 and April 21， 1875， propose to Engels that they be criticised in the Volksstaat.
Engels criticised Dühring for the first time in February 1876， in an article "Prussian Vodka in the German Reichstag"， published in Volksstaat (see present edition， Vol. 24). Later， in his letter to Marx of May 24， 1876， he writes of the need to initiate a campaign against the spread of Dühring's views in Germany. Replying on May 25， Marx supported Engels' idea and suggested that， first of all， Dühring himself be sharply criticised (see present edition， Vol. 45). Engels broke off his work on Dialectics of Nature ， and by May 28 informed Marx of the general plan and character of the proposed work.
Engels worked on Anti-Dühring for two years -- from late May 1876 to early July 1878. Part I of the book was written mainly between September 1876 and January 1877. It was published as a series of articles entitled Herrn Eugen Dühring's Umw?lzung der Philosophie in Vorw?rts in January-May 1877 (Nos. 1-7， 10 and 11， January 3， 5， 7， 10， 12， 14， 17， 24 and 26； Nos. 17， 24 and 25， February 9， 25and 28； Nos. 36 and 37， March 25 and 28； Nos. 44， 45， 49 and 50， April 15， 18， 27 and 29； Nos. 55 and 56， May 11 and 13). Later， beginning in 1878， with the first separate edition， the first two chapters of this part were made into an independent general introduction to all three parts.
Part II of the book was written mainly between June and August 1877. The last， x chapter of this part was written by Marx (see this volume， pp. 9， 15). In addition， in his letters to Engels of March 7 and August 8， 1877， Marx explained a number of economic problems， especially those connected with Quesnay's Tabkau économique ， which was difficult to understand. Engels also read the whole manu of Anti-Dühring to Marx before sending it to the printers.
