Self-interpretation of alienation as a key to spirit’s self-knowledge

Abstract

The article explores the phenomenon of alienation in the context of human historical self-realization. The goal is to praxeologically elucidate the matter of self-awareness with a conceptual foundation in the notion of “alienation”. The specificity of contemporary assessments of alienation in both domestic and foreign science is considered, providing insight into the level of societal consciousness. The author notes that research in the field, both domestic and international, is frequently examined from the perspective of either conservative scholastic interpretation of Hegelian-Marxist ideas or a vulgarized manner involving moral and psychological reduction of the substance of alienation to simpler phenomena of everyday subjectivity. The first approach displays a pronounced exegetical representation of a quasi-religious type, while the second one shows ideologically neutral yet ontologically impoverished content. Both options commonly overlook the inherent complexity of the issue of alienation itself, as well as the accompanying topic of the historical essence of humanity and self-awareness. According to the author, continuation of studying alienation and issues of human self-knowledge, conducted within the framework of the critical-dialectical approach and entering philosophical gnostical practice through logical notional specification, can be scientifically productive. Taking into account the social-historical transformations over the last century-and-a-half can provide the necessary and reasonable specificity to the initial definitions, allowing overcoming the academic rigidity and scholasticism found in other philosophical studies. Recognizing this, in turn, can facilitate the constructive actualization of the genuinely existential problems of human self-knowledge in the future.

Keywords

• awareness
• alienation
• self-alienation
• man
• knowledge
• history
• activity
• objectivity
• freedom