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Jonathan Wolff on Marx on Alienation

Philosophy Bites

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The Three Different Categories of Alienation

Marx says that under capitalism the vast majority of human beings don't enjoy their essence and their daily activity. What makes human life livable is that we don't have to produce everything for ourselves, he argues. The Martians might think how wonderful human beings can cooperate in this fantastic way - but they're all doing these things for each other. This is why Marx says we're alienated from other human beings. As a matter of course, we're not thinking about everyone else that we are relying on. So we've dealt with all four senses of alienation for now; what would it be like to live in a nonalienated way?

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