Marx?s Notion of Man as a ?Species Being? and His Idea of Alienation
The notion of man as a ?species-being? for Marx meant the recognition of man?s human essence as a member of a species. A species that takes part in a process of conscious production where we produce as human beings for one another. Marx used the term ?species being? as a method to distinguish human life from animal life; where production is more a consequence of blind instinct rather than conscious productive labor.
Alienation for Marx was a consequence of the conditions within systems of capitalism, which caused man to lose his identity as a species being and fall into an alienated state through the production of capital. ?Therefore, when human beings are alienated from themselves, it is their powers of production and their artistic creativity from which they are alienated; they confront their own works as alien beings? (219). Consequently, he also becomes detached from his conscious life activity......
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