Alienation and Social Action

Extract

The word “alienation” is today one of those fashionable and hence suspect words. It is very often used and therefore misused; it is an ambiguous and therefore obscure word; moreover it gives rise to the defensive reactions of those who believe that what it represents is dangerous in practice and who are interested in maintaining a situation which, according to them, is worthwhile defending. These reactions stem from different ways of reasoning and practical attitudes; starting with those who consider that it is necessary to fight against all obscure and ambiguous words and ending with those who oppose the pessimism of “ the philosophy of despair.” There are therefore, among the opposers, all those who believe in the traditions of neo-positivism and in the postulate of the semantic analysis of terms. There are some catholics and even—astonishing as it may seem—some Marxists who, historically speaking, are those who are most responsible for the actual popularity, not only of the term “alienation” itself, but also for the theoretic concepts connected with it.