Marxs alienation

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorUniversity, Bachelor's February 2008

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Karl Marx, who was arguably one of the most influential philosophers and revolutionaries of his time, stated that the 'alienation' of man leads to man being viewed as nothing more than a commodity by society. Man, as he put it, was forced into labor and stripped of all human rights. He loses his identity and thus becomes alienated, even to the extent of being alienated to himself. Marx's theories were based on his socialist principals in which an alienated man is one of little value to society as a whole. In today's world, although an alienated man is not looked upon as a useless face to society, in many ways he still becomes nothing more than a commodity. The purpose of this essay will be to demonstrate that alienation still exists today, what forms it takes, and to describe what the term alienation ment to Karl Marx. I will take a two fold approach to this essay.

First, I will discuss Karl Marx's concept of alienation, and second I will tackle the question of alienation today, and if I feel that it has increased of decreased.

Before answering this question, one must find the exact meaning of alienation to interpret what Marx ment. According to the Websters dictionary, Alienation is defined as a "withdrawing or separation of a person or a person's affections from an object or position of former attachment." Marx believed this term was best present in the labor force at his time. He saw the capitalist society as exploiting workers and also stripping individuals of their own free will. This exploitation would be dominant enough that it set limits to the individuals creative potential, thus alienating man to himself. Karl Marx believed that labor, under the capitalist system, was forcing workers into work; consequently...