The philosophers whom he has studied extensively are Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Marx, Lukács, and Heidegger.
He received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1974 and his Habilitation à diriger des recherches from the Université de Poitiers in 1994.
This shift has significant consequences for phenomenology, aesthetics, and political philosophy.
He claims that Marx, in particular, was influenced by the thought of Kant, Schelling, Fichte, and Hegel.
Engels' subsequent influence leads to the development of versions of Marxism that were inconsistent with much in Marx's original thinking.