Gain an understanding of Marx and apply the work of the theorist to a contemporary issue - Essay Example

The club represented the intellectual avant-garde as it took a leading part in the Young Hegelian movement (Blumenberg 33). Marx eventually became a journalist, the end of his life spent in London in poverty. His works were not well known during his own lifetime. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher who was instrumental in the creation of the German Idealism. Dying in 1831, Hegel was part of the philosophical environment of the late 18th and early 19th century. Hegel developed theories about alienation but was confined to theorizing about alienation of consciousness.

Marx was interested in Feuerbach who connected the theory to existence. Blumenberg (2000) quotes Marx as having said that Feuerbach “founded true materialism” by making “the social relationship of man to man the basic theory of his principle” and for having opposed Hegel’s mere “negation of the negation” with “the positive that has its own self for foundation and basis” (58). In pursuing this area of inquiry, Marx developed his theories of revolution upon ’real humanism’ which “aims to overthrow capitalist society in order to realize the human essence” (Blumenberg 2000: 58). . Feuerbach postulated that “it is anthropotheistic, the exclusive love of man for himself, the exclusive self-affirmation of the human-nature” (Churchich 1994: 260).

The theory of alienation was explored as man alienates himself from his nature through the development of religion. Marx adapted this concept to his own theories of the proletariat. Intentions and Purposes Marx can be seen for his formation of the theory of a utopian society in which the true essence of being human can be revealed and lived. His calls for revolution are based upon a belief that the path on which commerce and industry was setting a course would be the end of true humanity. Marx posited his theories with the intention of condemning capitalism, an economic structure that he found to be damning to the human race.

Marx intended to support his beliefs in Socialism; however, his work was not to be known during his own lifetime. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts were not published until 1928, his own era not knowing much about his theories (Blumenberg 2000). Themes Most of what Marx is known for writing about is in terms of the role of the worker within a capitalist society. In his Theories of Alienation, Marx developed ideas about the nature of man, his need for understanding the purpose of his work and the intent.

He discusses the way in which art is a natural part of the human experience, relating this human element to the way in which capitalism takes this from man in the industrialization of production as it is done for the purpose of providing profit to the owners. The interruption of management in the flow of gain from product creates another form of alienation in which the end benefit is not realized by the one who produces the product.