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12 - Nature as evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Bertell Ollman
Affiliation:
New York University
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Summary

It is not only the powers involved in appropriation but also the objects appropriated that are said to become human in communism. Until now, our chief concern has been with man, the subject, and his powers. Equal attention must be given to Man's objects as the necessary manifestations of these powers. According to Marx, ‘Communism is the complete emancipation of all human senses and attributes; but it is this emancipation precisely because these senses and attributes have become, subjectively and objectively, human.’ They have become ‘subjectively’ human in that man's powers and needs have attained their full potential, and ‘objectively’ so in the sense that his objects are indicative of this achievement. Such objects constitute the ‘human essence’ that Marx says will be appropriated in communism. In his words, ‘The eye has become a human eye just as its object has become a social, human object – an object emanating from man for man.’

Because his powers are so extensive, communist man requires the whole of nature brought up to the level of his appropriation to satisfy him. Thus, in this period, the entire world is spoken of as ‘the world of Man's essential powers – human reality … all objects become for him the objectification of himself, become objects which confirm and realize his individuality’.

Type
Chapter
Information
Alienation
Marx's Conception of Man in a Capitalist Society
, pp. 94 - 96
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1977

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  • Nature as evidence
  • Bertell Ollman, New York University
  • Book: Alienation
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611902.015
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  • Nature as evidence
  • Bertell Ollman, New York University
  • Book: Alienation
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611902.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Nature as evidence
  • Bertell Ollman, New York University
  • Book: Alienation
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611902.015
Available formats
×