Introduction Karl Heinrich Marx: esteemed German philosopher and author of The Communist Manifesto; a book famous for its appeal to hipster college kids who either pretend they’ve read it, or do so on thousand-dollar Mac books while sipping Starbucks purchased with daddy’s money. Pompous communist memes aside, Marx’s appeal is perhaps due to his pragmatic approach to philosophy. With his predecessors having a major focus on idealism, Marx sees philosophy as a practical approach to life in the world. The point of philosophy for Marx was nonetheless, “to change it [the world]” (145). But what does it mean to change the world? Simply, Marx saw change as aiming at those aspects of society which he found inadequate, and through exposing the inadequacies,
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Evident in his critique of religious consciousness, Marx continually uses the notion of the inverted world. This inverted world can be understood as a reversal of thought and practical life. This same notion is used, and can be applied to, many of the same philosophical conceptions throughout his various works. On the nature of humans for example, Marx rejects his predecessor Ludwig Feuerbach’s individualistic image of humans. Instead, Marx favors his conception of the human essence as the “ensemble of human relations” (145). Simply put, Marx is suggesting that in order for us to know ourselves we must look to the social order of our place in time. Feuerbach suggests that it is the genus which unites us, and so naturally he sees us all to have the same structure, insofar as we all fall under the concept of what a human is. Marx, on the other hand, rejects Feuerbach’s notion of what a human is – he argues instead that we are united socially and historically, instead of naturally. As we will see, Marx’s inverted conception of genus is essential to our understanding of alienation and estrangement. Recognizing how we are a part of this place in time, with its socio-economic conditions, is not accidental, but essential to us. Therefore, if we take it to be the view that we …show more content…
Let’s now turn to the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, which will be the main source through which Marx describes these concepts. Marx states: “The worker sinks to the level [...] of the most wretched commodities; that the wretchedness of the worker is in inverse proportion to the power and magnitude of his production” (70). It is through this wretchedness, that the wage labourer is reduced to a commodity, and becomes a tool for the capitalist to gain excessive wealth, of which the wage-labourer sees little of. Although, the main problem is not so much the small amount of monetary gain the wage-labourer receives, but the impact the small monetary wealth has on his way of living – how the miniscule compensation infringes on his ability to cultivate that which is properly human. Infringe, insofar as, the wage-labourer is unable to engage in practical activities that cultivate those components considered to be properly human, because the labour he engages in to receive such small compensation, leaves him with no resources other than those that allow him to enlist in rote behavior, both inside his place of work and in his own home. Therefore, this wretchedness is not to be understood as mere suffering – for this wretchedness is unrecognized – rather, it is the alien and estranged characteristics of the worker that create
Evident in his critique of religious consciousness, Marx continually uses the notion of the inverted world. This inverted world can be understood as a reversal of thought and practical life. This same notion is used, and can be applied to, many of the same philosophical conceptions throughout his various works. On the nature of humans for example, Marx rejects his predecessor Ludwig Feuerbach’s individualistic image of humans. Instead, Marx favors his conception of the human essence as the “ensemble of human relations” (145). Simply put, Marx is suggesting that in order for us to know ourselves we must look to the social order of our place in time. Feuerbach suggests that it is the genus which unites us, and so naturally he sees us all to have the same structure, insofar as we all fall under the concept of what a human is. Marx, on the other hand, rejects Feuerbach’s notion of what a human is – he argues instead that we are united socially and historically, instead of naturally. As we will see, Marx’s inverted conception of genus is essential to our understanding of alienation and estrangement. Recognizing how we are a part of this place in time, with its socio-economic conditions, is not accidental, but essential to us. Therefore, if we take it to be the view that we …show more content…
Let’s now turn to the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, which will be the main source through which Marx describes these concepts. Marx states: “The worker sinks to the level [...] of the most wretched commodities; that the wretchedness of the worker is in inverse proportion to the power and magnitude of his production” (70). It is through this wretchedness, that the wage labourer is reduced to a commodity, and becomes a tool for the capitalist to gain excessive wealth, of which the wage-labourer sees little of. Although, the main problem is not so much the small amount of monetary gain the wage-labourer receives, but the impact the small monetary wealth has on his way of living – how the miniscule compensation infringes on his ability to cultivate that which is properly human. Infringe, insofar as, the wage-labourer is unable to engage in practical activities that cultivate those components considered to be properly human, because the labour he engages in to receive such small compensation, leaves him with no resources other than those that allow him to enlist in rote behavior, both inside his place of work and in his own home. Therefore, this wretchedness is not to be understood as mere suffering – for this wretchedness is unrecognized – rather, it is the alien and estranged characteristics of the worker that create