Sense of the Social Man: Rousseau and Marx on Alienation

The terms Entfremdung and Entäußerung themselves evoke images, suggesting the division of things, which inherently fit together naturally, or the creation of a state of conflict among things that should naturally be in harmony. Entfremdung (Alienation) is central to Karl Marx's critique of capitalist society, arguing that under capitalism, workers become alienated from the products they produce, their own essence, and from each other. Rousseau, writing in the 18century, th offered a radical critique of social inequality and pointed out that man, in his natural state, was free. Still, society's evolution had corrupted this natural freedom and equality. His solution was collectivity, surrendering some freedom to a general will for the common good, providing a foundation for a just society. Rousseau's idea of freedom profoundly influenced subsequent political philosophy, providing a framework for understanding the balance between individual liberty and social obligation. Rousseau and Marx's political theories evoke greater feelings and have had more of an effect on social revolutions than the theories of any other modern thinkers. Rousseau and Marx both contributed to the notion of alienation it is to what ways their concepts of freedom and alienation converge or diverge by delving into the historical and ideological transformation that marks the transition from Enlightenment critique of society to revolutionary socialism, the philosophical underpinnings of their conceptualization of the individual and society that I will discuss.