"Labor and 'World Alienation': Arendt's Critique of Marx"

by Tchir, Trevor (2017)

Abstract

Chapter 5 engages with Arendt’s critique of Marx, highlighting some of Arendt’s ideas most fecund for reflection on contemporary global politics, including the ‘right to have rights.’ Arendt argues that Marx’s ‘socialized humanity’ has reflected and encouraged modern phenomena that have distorted the disclosure of the ‘who’ and the ‘world,’ namely the ‘glorification of labor,’ the ‘rise of the social,’ and ‘world alienation.’ Since Arendt holds that the ‘who’ cannot be adequately disclosed by the work of homo faber, nor labor tied to necessity, I distinguish her concept of action from Hegel’s and Marx’s work model of freedom. I assess Arendt’s critique of the ‘social question’ and address critics who read her prioritization of political freedom as a threat to justice and material equality.

Keywords

Arendt, Marx, Modernity, Alienation, The Social Question, Justice, Hegel, Political Freedom, Equality

Themes

On Arendt

Links to Reference

• https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-53438-1_5

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