Existentialism: Existence Before Essence

The term alienation refers to the isolation of one’s self from a belonging society. When a person is alienated they no longer feel as if they belong or have the same views as the group or society they live in. How does one become alienated from something that they once belonged to? This is a question many have discussed throughout history. In Voltaire’s book Candide, Marx’s book The Communist Manifesto, Hoffer’s The True Believer, and Memmi’s The Colonizer and the Colonized, all these authors address man’s alienation in modern society and come up with solutions for man’s alienation within each book.

Marx defines alienation as the separation from one's true self, and that is just what it is. When person becomes alienated they become a puppet for society, they start to exhibit Blauner's symptoms of alienation; powerlessness, meaninglessness,normlessness, self estrangement and estrangement from others. In American Beauty the main character Lester

Alienation is when you are an outsider; you may feel isolated from others for being different, therefore not part of a group. I have at times felt alienated when I couldn’t get on a ride due to my height. For

Alienation can be more hurtful than any physical harm. It renders feelings of isolation and loneliness. Estrangement by your community confuses your ego and sense of self and leaves you wondering, “where do I belong?” Alienation and its effects were appropriately personified in both the late Leanita McClain and fictional character Arnold Spirit Jr. from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.

The Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines Isolation as “the state of being in a place or situation that is separate from others. Isolation can have positive or negative consequences depending on the situation, and almost every human has or will be faced with at least one scenario where they feel isolated from something. Many authors choose to include the theme of isolation in their writing because it allows their readers to relate to the story.

The last type of alienation is alienation from oneself. Alienation from oneself grabs a person of all they can be and contribute to the world. Marx believed that what we contribute to the world in terms ever work is part of our species essence or what makes us human. What we contribute to the world is a manifestation of our creativity and creativity is an essential part of our human nature and our base product society. Many people alienated from their very human nature. People lose their sense of self, and who they are, we live to work rather than work being an extension of our

Alienation is a process whereby people come to be divorced or isolated from the society around them

In this essay Marx’s and Nietzsche’s philosophies on the term “alienation” will be analyzed first with explanations of both philosopher’s theories, then a contrast of said theories. Marx and Nietzsche both see most people as profoundly alienated, but for many different reasons. Marx’s theory of alienation comes from the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and proletariat, with the product of labor being the sole cause of alienation. Nietzsche observes that alienation is determined by a reactionary response to master morality, which is slave morality. The main clash between Marx and Nietzsche’s two theories of alienation is the way that the author interprets and perceives the cause and outcome of one’s alienation.

According to the Oxford English dictionary the traditional meaning of the word alienation means ‘to turn away feelings or affections of anyone, or, the transfer of property.’ Marx expands on this definition so that any transformation draws a distinction and exhibits a difference. For example in ‘Notes on James Mill’ alienation is a general term referring to something that is separated

What is existentialism? Existentialism is a philosophical theory that emphasizes the existences of one against it 's freedom of choice and will. It is also interpreted that humans come into the world without a nature. Humanity has no universal established in advance principles or ethics common to all of humankind. Since there is no preformed essence or definition exists of what is means to "be human," a person must form its own conception of any existence by maintaining the actions of and responsibility for its actions and choices. Consequently, a human being gains his/her essence through individual choices and actions. It is simply through the process of living life that one can define only itself. Existence in one does not include the consequence one will make.When we are created in the world we are created without knowledge , we are produce to learn things throughout life and chose the way and how we are going to live our lives. We have no choice but to make our decisions for ourselves even if they are morally incorrect. The acceptance of one’s decision will maintain on what happened to and how one interpret the outcome. Though when humans are morally incorrect, we are unlikely to admit it.Another concept of existentialism is resentment , the resentment of one of it 's past cannot be ignored though one future can change. In No exit by Jean- Paul Sartre each character is placed in the same room with no way out, it introduces existentialism in many ways.

Before examining the first layer of the alienations, it is crucial to understand what alienation meant to Marx. Alienation can be understood as a state of being unfamiliar or disconnected with something that a person should have been familiar or connected with in the

The most significant of these types is estrangement from self, which is more of a structure or basis for other types of alienation because conceived alienation

Alienation is the lack of integration in a community where individuals lack a connection. Karl Marx described it in a capitalist society, where workers are working just to make ends meet and don’t really connect with what they do or have a passion for it. Alienation and anomie are both terms that talk about status in society and an individual’s relationship with that society. Both terms describe isolation and confusion but there are differences in the two. It can be argued that both anomie and alienation can make a person isolated but in different ways.

This form of alienation, as described of Marx, revolves around the root idea that workers of a capitalist system are alienated from the production process as the product that is being created is not being produced in accordance to the workers own ideas “or to directly satisfy their own needs” (Ritzer & Stepnisky, 2014, pg. 54). Furthermore, this essentially involves the workers (whom work for the capitalist); being paid wages

In order to understand the concept of alienation and its dimensions, we must first understand how it is related to Marx’s critique of capitalism and society. As stated above, Marx believed that the development of history was a sequence of the modes of production. This refers to the way that society is organised to produce goods and services, vital to human existence. Marx believed as human beings, in order to survive and enhance our social being, we must produce material requirements of subsistence (Seligman, 1901, p163) and the way that we do this is through the modes of production. The modes of production consist of two major aspects: 1) the productive forces i.e. land, raw material, labour power, machinery, tools etc. used to produce material goods 2) the relations of production: whether you own and control the means of production or whether you do not. (McLennan et al, 2010)