Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts 1844

In reading the section in the Marx-Engels Reader on Estranged Labour, I found some interesting points of comparison to some of our previous readings. Marx states that there is an estranged relationship between man and his labour that causes man to lose himself in nature. To "alienate" himself. As a result, he writes that "labour is external to the worker, it does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel content but unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his mind. The worker therefore only feels himself outside his work, and in his work feels outside himself" (74).

This alienation has caused man to feel bound to the "alien" who requires his labour, pulling him away from his natural activity. Is our labour truly pulling us away from our "savage man"? This is a question that Rousseau also points to discussing how "our industry deprives us of the force and agility that necessity obliges him to acquire. If he had had an axe, would his wrists break such strong branches?" (40). As we invest ourselves more into our product of labour, we lose ourselves, and the poorer our internal selves become according to Marx. I find it difficult to compare the benefits of being able to sustain oneself with natural physicality and being able to operate machinery that has created some of the most advanced methods of production. Is it possible to say one is better than the other in a modern, commercial society?

The "self-alienation" that has resulted from labour, and the products of labour seems very negative. I think that there are other factors that can off-set this negativity. People work out of necessity. Necessities that are as simple and natural as eating, drinking, and providing a home for a family. Wouldn't this bring man back to a more natural state? Maybe labour seems inorganic because we are comparing it to a state of nature for savage men. We are not living in the original state of nature. It is difficult to see this "self-alienation" objectively because we are living in it.