Philosophy 152 Philosophy of Human Nature Darwall Fall 1996 MARX III I Marx argues that a capitalist economy is characterized by various forms of what he calls "estrangement" or "alienation". Let's see what he means on p. 227. What does he mean by: "the worker becomes all the pooer the more wealth he produces . . . "? "the worker becomes an even cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates"? "with the increasing value of the world of things . . . the devaluation of the world of men"? "labor produces not only commodities; it produces itself and the worker as a commodity"? the worker's product becomes something "alien""power"? "loss of realization for the workers"? p. 228: "the more powerful becomes the alien world of objects"? "objectification"? p. 229: "labor is external to the worker"? "only feels himself outside his work, and in his work feels outside himself"? II An important theme here is that work under capitalism cannot be creative and self- realizing as the most valuable forms of human activity are. (Compare Aristotle). This brings us to Marx's claim that work in capitalism is dehumanizing, that it clashes with our "species being." III Some issues: Is Marx saying that workers under capitalism sell themselves? How far can this argument be taken? Does it apply to any form of wage labor? Is there some background idea here about what is appropriately bought and sold, about ways in which commercial relations can undermine other relations and the values they express? Some examples