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

Marx on Alienation - Essay Example According to the study findings  Hegel’s â€Å"spirit† represents totality of human life activity but which is always in contradiction with what it has itself produced, and which confronts it as something alien hence for him, â€Å"labor is the essence of man†. The problem is that Hegel only recognizes mental labor since men are thinking beings. On the other hand, Marx believes the essence of man is material labor and alienation results from man’s relationship with the products of his labor. Marx recognizes four kinds of alienation: alienation from product of his work; alienation from the activity of production 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  Ã‚   Marx and gaining insights from Hegel’s philosophy which forms the basis of Marx’s work. The paper will also evaluate which of his ideas are valuable and which are not gi ving reasons why. The Hegel’s concept of alienation 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 philosophical mind which according to Hegel is â€Å"nothing but the alienated world-mind thinking within the bounds of its self-alienation†. Man’s products in this case, are products of abstract mind (mental labor) and man is equated to self-consciousness. This self-consciousness is his alienation.