Philosophical and Marxist Perspectives on Human Nature
Two Types of Philosophy
There are two main types of philosophy:
- Autobiographical Philosophy: This refers to an individual’s effort to address the fundamental questions of life. Philosophers’ views on these issues differ due to factors like personal status, culture, historical context, and contemporary science.
- Systematic Philosophy: This encompasses statements or theories designed to have universal validity beyond biographical interest.
Theories on Human Nature
Autobiographical and Religious Theories
Religious theories base their beliefs on truths that cannot be rationally proven. Believers accept these truths as divinely revealed. Major religions emphasize the special dignity of human beings due to their relationship with the divine. Eastern religions, particularly Hinduism, also value humans highly; man is considered the place where the gods manifest.
Philosophical Theories
Philosophical theories must be rationally justified to be universally valid. These theories often blend philosophical and religious ideas, identifying key aspects of human nature:
- Man is a rational being.
- Man is a social being.
- Man is a free and moral being.
- Man is a metaphysical being.
Man is a Rational Being
- Greek Philosophy: Plato identified reason with the soul, referring to the most intimate and specific aspect of human beings. Aristotle believed the soul was the organizing form of the body, and the human soul was rational.
- Medieval Philosophy: Also established humans as rational animals, composed of a body and a spiritual soul created by God.
- Modern Philosophy: Reason was the defining characteristic of an era of rationalist optimism. It was believed that reason, through science, could uncover the mysteries of nature and solve moral problems, guiding humans to live by rational principles.
- 19th and 20th Century Philosophy: Some philosophical projects critiqued science and rationality, exalting irrationality and will as the ability to make decisions.
The Marxist Concept of Alienation
The Marxist concept of alienation has four components:
- Alienation from Productive Activity: In capitalist society, workers are alienated from their work. They do not work to meet their own needs but for capitalists who pay them a wage. Both workers and capitalists believe that this wage means the activity belongs to the capitalist, alienating workers from their labor. Productive activity is reduced to earning enough money to survive.
- Alienation from the Product: Workers are alienated from the object of their activities—the product. It does not belong to them, and they cannot use it to meet their needs. The product, like the process, belongs to the capitalists, who use it for profit. Workers, especially in long production chains, often lack a clear perception of what they produce.
- Alienation from Colleagues: Capitalism destroys natural cooperation, fostering loneliness. Capitalists pit workers against each other to see who produces more, faster, and is more pleasing to management, creating hostility among co-workers.
- Alienation from Human Potential: In capitalist society, individuals are reduced to beasts of burden or inhuman machines. Consciousness is numbed, resulting in a mass of people unable to express their specifically human capacities—a mass of alienated labor.