alienation

Valentine's Day

Karl Marx

is a form of living death. It is the acid of despair that dissolves society.

Alienation is a form of living death. It is the acid of despair that dissolves society.

is a necessity as the very condition of the symbolic order.

Dupuy is therefore right to emphasize that we should reject the simplistic Marxist 'critique,' which aims at 'sublating' this alienation, transforming society into a self-transparent body within which individuals directly realize their collective projects, without the detour of 'destiny' (the position attributed to the Lukacs of History and Class Consciousness): a minimum of 'alienation' is the very condition of the symbolic order as such' (Zizek 2003:163-4).

is a process in personal growth involving a divestiture or externalization from one's 'natural consciousness' that leads to a reunification and development of the self.

In Hegel's writings, the challenge of personal growth often involves an agonizing alienation from one's 'natural consciousness' that leads to a reunification and development of the self.

is a state in which norms are imposed solely as outwardly authoritative and not yet inwardly affirmed. Hegel calls this 'positivity' meaning the opposite of what we might think.

Hegel, like the entire generation of his time, was moved forward along the path of his thought by a fundamental experience, and that was the experience of alienation. He named it positivity (Positivita t). With Hegel one has to become accustomed to the way he often means by an expression just about the opposite of what one would expect. So when Hegel says positivity, he means something quite negative: that norms have been imposed solely as outwardly authoritative and have not been inwardly affirmed by ourselves. It would be an instance of the positivity in Christianity that it requires sheer obedience of the faithful, even without any taint of insight or inner engagement. It would be an instance of the positivity of a constitution when it carries on as valid in its positive determinations, though there is not any living spirit in it. (Godamer 'Reason in the age of' 33-4)

is alienation both from one's own nature and from other men. In capitalism, productive activity is competitive rather than cooperative, making the other into an alien and hostile being. Love and trust are replaced by bargaining and exchange.

A consequence of this alienation of humans from their own nature is that they are also alienated from each other. Productive activity becomes 'activity under the domination, coercion and yoke of another man'. This other man becomes an alien, hostile being. Instead of humans relating to each other co-operatively, they relate competitively. Love and trust are replaced by bargaining and exchange. Human beings cease to recognize in each other their common human nature... they see others as instruments for furthering their own egoistic interests. (Singer 'very short intro to marx : 36)

is, in modern society, the now almost total loss of ownership of the human being owing to the fact that he is owned by his creations, and has lost ownership of himself.

Alienation as we find it in modern society is almost total Man has created a world of man-made things as it never existed before. He has constructed a complicated social machine to administer the technical machine he built. The more powerful and gigantic the forces are which he unleashes, the more powerless he feels himself as a human being. He is owned by his creations, and has lost ownership of himself. Erich Fromm

is minimal identity, a classical atom against the external world.

minimal identity, a classical atom against the external world.

is neither a subjective nor an ontological concept, but a sociohistorical normative category that points to a deplorable state of affairs that should be overcome.

transforming philosophical concepts into social terms, thus taking universal concepts and reconfiguring them into historically specific ones. For Marx, alienation is neither a subjective nor an ontological concept, but a sociohistorical normative category that points to a deplorable state of affairs that should be overcome. Delivery from the alienation of labor for Marx is therefore a critical-revolutionary project involving the transcendence of capitalism.

alienation, n.Definitions

alienation