Marx’s Most Important Idea

“Alienation” or “Entfremdung” is arguably one of Karl Marx’s most important ideas. In this video I attempt to provide a brief introduction to this concept and how it relates to both Hegel and Feuerbach.
If you’d like to learn more, you can download my lectures and ebooks on patreon.
www.patreon.com/julianphilosophy
Thanks for watching,
Julian
#marx #karlmarx #philosophy #capitalism #hegel

[@julianphilosophy]

My lectures and ebook can be found here: www.patreon.com/julianphilosophy

[@andreitiberiovicgazdovici]

It's almost a crime that your channel only has 48,000 subscribers, for the level of your content you deserve at least 10 times as many... In any case, thanks for the lesson Julian, arguing so well and in such a short time such a concept of Marx overall is truly commendable, really good! Greetings from Marche, Italy, and I wish you all a happy April 25th (I know it doesn't make much sense to those who aren't Italian,👍 but it's our Liberation Day from Nazifascism, the most important national holiday, a sort of 4th of July for American friends.

[@musickosmodrama]

The level of his content IS the reason behind the 48k subscribers. Man i dont come from philosophy bg, I am studying through books and ytb channels but Julian's channel is ine of the most difficult to understand hahaha

[@andreitiberiovicgazdovici]

@@musickosmodrama Julian is a very courageous person, he discusses the contents of Marx, Hegel, Lacan in videos of even a few minutes... and they are very difficult authors to really understand, even for those who already know them and have studied them for some time, let alone the others... But he still manages to best summarize the concepts of their thought that others take hours to explain, and unlike Julian, often even badly... perhaps the topics he deals with are "niche", as they say here in Italy, but his work is truly very valid and deserves a much larger audience

[@musickosmodrama]

@@andreitiberiovicgazdovici i truly recognize it. That's why I am here. I feel challenged to understand his content hahaha

[@qohelethsmind]

I like it. I don’t think it’s strictly Marx’s concept of alienation, with your framing and commentary. But I’m loving these.

[@musiqtee]

True, as alienation has its parallels in every (ancient, former) civil society we’ve known. The “loss of meaning” always exists for a number of individuals and groups. I’d posit that the “we” (majority) in any society turn to any ‘explanation’ to detach from this reality. After a certain period of “laissez faire” or hyper-conservativism (maintaining or revisioning status quo), decadence shows up as an increase of alienation. More people, more areas of life. Lessons from the numerous French revolutions… History doesn’t ‘repeat’, but our societal-behavioural patterns do indeed. Marx could only capture the timeframe he lived through, and (like earlier thinkers) tried to describe _the essence_ of causalities and solutions. Those guys wrote a LOT, and also adjusted their narratives with new knowledge and dialectics. Modernity was still “young”, so _progress_ was a believable path for early socialists. In our time, the framework (epistemology and ontology) of ecology and a globalised economy makes ‘progress’ moot, as there are no “white spots” left on our maps to “grow” and progress from (material, energy, ideology). To me at least, that spells the end of the modern era - and as earlier, it’s hard to “know” what the present is evolving into. Or hard to even acknowledge change we’ve clearly experienced. Too many Platonists, and too few Hegelians, maybe? Meta-modernism for me, though…😅

[@taciprince7400]

Love starting my day out with philosophy

[@marqpsmythe228]

I’m here with Schopenhauer The most important idea for me, from “A CRITICISM OF THE HEGELIAN PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT is “Religion is . . . the fantastic realization of the human being, inasmuch as the human being possesses no true reality.” 🙏🏼 ॐ मणि पद्मे हम

[@DJWESG1]

I think happy alienation is better understood as a form of escapism. Akin to a drug habit or other habit that's used to remove one's self from the reality, if only for a while.

[@theonetruetim]

I dont know Alienation to reduce like this. But, i love that u are dealing w/it. It IS the most crucial of his contributions. Forget the money, bruh. This is spiritual. Basic & true.

[@hediehsh4817]

Very thoughtful, thank you!

[@marekgalteestaff7087]

I wonder if Marx predicted that in the 21st century many professions will be so specialized and work so individualized that the business owner will have no idea what the employees are actually doing

[@IrkInvader]

Thank you so much for this! I just saw a video from Noah Samsen (another KZbinr) explaining how he’s going through a rough period after achivieng what people might call success in KZbin, he feels incomplete and in fact he’s struggling to appreciate his own art now. I think this is such a visible symptom and n our world right now

[@aprole87]

This framing made me think of Lyotard and the English workers. Good video as always, Julian!

[@MH-ln6pv]

Ice cream makes me happy

[@MegaLozenge]

Another interesting video. I am just wondering a bit about how this idea and your more Lacanian ideas intersect. For example, if Lacanianism is more focused on the individual psyche and experiencing desire as a form of lack, then isn't there a risk that it mistakes examples of Marxist alientation as something quite essential, when really it's part of complex social process? I know that here we are talking about on one hand an individual, and and on the other, a historical subject, and as such these two things can not be equated....but even so, I kind of feel that general human experience is then prone to misinterpretation. Sorry if that is either overly complex, or alternatively a simplification of what Lacan or Marx might say. EDIT: Thinking about this again, I think essential is not the right word. Perhaps "ideal" is a better word. I am in the middle of some Lukács at the moment, so that might be influencing my change of word.

[@wandersonmartins5597]

Nice vid Julian!

[@manzo6335]

Your videos/interests remind me quite a bit of Bourdieu's theory. Have you looked into him?

[@apice3730]

es un perfecto resumen...

[@maxr.k.pravus9518]

Hi Julian, great exposition of Marx's theory of alienation, but the most important part is still left out. Namely, to liberate ourselves from the capitalist alienation, we have to overthrow capitalism and organize a communist society. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty of whether its possible or not, I'll just say it is and we almost had world communism a hundred years ago

[@tehdii]

Majority of the last 15 years I spent mainly in a city public library. Have lost a job recently, nothing fancy, in modern economy and the way employers are treating low income employee whole situation is making me poorer every day, even with a normal work. I do not have anything spectacular in terms of mental skills or material goods. And my situation is somehow still better than the rest below me... I have worked hard last 10 years and wasn't able to buy a house, a car, a fancy electronics, clothes from a middle shelf... courses, class of intelect and spirit. I could start gym,yoga but what the ability to lift a leg above my head will help me? Sadly modern economy invokes in me almost suicidal ideations most of the time. Not that I would do it but the materialistic side of things are just bone crushing. I am thinking of starting after hitting 40 courses in painting, swimming, dance, languages, but after few years I would be broke and will be forced to the three shift jobs. The fall will be much more painful if I try to spend my gathered money on happy life :( I observe my culture and can not grasp from where those people had such amounts of money. The isolation of the poor from the rich is creating almost a front pressure void. It is absurd out there in the wild. I would only hope to get from you the way of thinking about the world. Sadly I have gotten DFW/Nitzsche/Autumn genes.

[@NoPrivateProperty]

I think concept of metabolic rift is most important. capitalism is incompatible with the natural world, therefore life

[@FG-fc1yz]

4:20

[@8hei]

People are trying to alienate you from your hair

[@EMPANAO321]

Lol

[@DJWESG1]

Stig of the mata

[@SGT___3722]

They will not succeed

[@swirlyglasseschan]

Don't fix your hair

[@skyteus]

It's an important part of the lectures! ❤

[@verbalwound5874]

"What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?"

[@blackeddeath]

It's so cute

[@gdanio89]

Fixing hair is pure ideology

[@darillus1]

if it isn't broke, don't try fix it

[@he1ar1]

I have recently rethinking religion. I am an atheist but i feel more love thinking of something that i know doesnt exist than i do thinking about my country in its current form. Is this a case of simultaneous alienation and me chosing the least real as the good choice?

[@EarlofSedgewick]

Hey 😁 This is quite a common phenomena right now, and it seems to be part of the broad sweep of late-stage capitalism. It sounds like you're realising that the dream isn't great or true, but that feeling provides no comfort whatsoever - in fact it makes the lived experience worse. Religion takes that void of meaning and fills it with something. That something isn't real in the Lacanian Real sense, but certainly is real in the Lacanian Symbolic sense. If you are unfamiliar with these trends, I would suggest watching another of Julian's videos on those topics. If you can't find satisfying videos, shoot me a message here and I'll be able to find one that might be labelled differently 👍 More than happy to keep talking to you about this.

[@6388-s2n]

you look like a spectre under that lamp

[@QuixEnd]

Marx really was the epitome of bourgeois. If you work an actual job and feed your children regularly, you're already leagues ahead of karl marx😂

[@rossawilson01]

Oh so he didn’t experience poverty in London and he owned the means of production? That goes against all of recorded history about him! And to call him bourgeoise fundamentally misunderstands the meaning of the term. But go ahead work in chains and make future workers I guess you think that makes you better than everyone else.

[@owabowa]

Marx feed his children and worked as a journalist before becoming a full time organiser, author, philosopher, and what not. What are you even on about

[@QuixEnd]

@owabowa you really don't know? He refused to work (actual labor) for a living and his family suffered the consequences. His kids starved. Some call it righteous devotion, Id call it pride and madness

[@owabowa]

@@QuixEnd Again, what are you even talking about? Being a journalist *is* a job, being an author *is* a job, do you not understand what a job is? Do you not understand that the literal reason why Marx is even discussed is because of the work he did during his lifetime? And no, his family didn't experience economic hardship because "uh Marx didn't do MY abstract definition of labor and that is why his family starved!!", it was because he was a literal 19th-century working man, do you think that people in the eighteen hundreds were generally well off? Not to mention how him being a political dissident worsened this, search up Neue Rheinische Zeitung and what happened to it and the consequences that Marx experienced because of it. Consider not commenting when you have literally nothing to add to the discussion, geez.

[@QuixEnd]

@owabowa I cant force you to read, but I'd suggest it. He asked other people for money and if he didn't receive it, him and his family would just go without. But this already getting way too complicated for you, maybe try r/explainlikeim5

[@Chrisjavier2604]

fix your hair

[@SGT___3722]

what makes you believe you are in a position to tell people what to do

[@ViVeriVniversvmVivusVici]

Fix your hair. We're civilized here.