Marx on Alienation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marx on Alienation - Essay ExampleAccording to the study findingsHegels spirit represents totality of hu macrocosm life activity but which is always in contradiction with what it has itself produced, and which confronts it as something alien hence for him, labor is the essence of man. The problem is that Hegel only recognizes custodytal labor since men are thinking beings. On the other hand, Marx believes the essence of man is material labor and alienation results from mans relationship with the products of his labor. Marx recognizes four kinds of alienation alienation from product of his work alienation from the activity of payoff leading to loss of self from his species-being and alienation from other men.This paper will discuss these forms of alienation as depicted by Marx and gaining insights from Hegels philosophy which forms the basis of Marxs work. The paper will also value which of his ideas are valuable and which are non giving reasons why. The Hegels concept of alienatio n from which Marx borrows from is based on man as a self-conscious being. That is, man knows the existence of other things but he does not relate to them objectively but only in the abstract form since they are just imagined things of philosophic mind which according to Hegel is nothing but the alienated world-mind thinking within the bounds of its self-alienation. Mans products in this case, are products of abstract mind (mental labor) and man is equated to self-consciousness. This self-consciousness is his alienation.