THE QUESTION OF ALIENATION: THE PROBLEM OF ONTOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF A FRAGMENTED CONCEPT

Abstract

The proposed work is devoted to the problem of philosophical reconstruction of alienation as a fundamental phenomenon of human existence. The main attention is focused on an attempt to understand alienation not only as a socio-cultural or psychological phenomenon, but as an ontological category that should reveal the essential structures of human being. The main complexity of the problem of alienation lies in its ontic immediacy – with the simultaneous extreme complexity of its identification and explication in a strict conceptual representation. Alienation is not just an object of thought, but also a way of revealing the essence. The question of the possibility of reconstructing a holistic vision of the phenomenon of alienation on the basis of existing interpretations, their integration into a single conceptual representation is relevant. To answer this question, the key stages of the evolution of the concept of alienation in philosophical thought of the last two centuries are retrospectively traced. It is shown that, despite their number, most of them consider the problem of alienation not as such, but as a derivative of other problems of human existence by reducing the problem of alienation to specific negative manifestations of the economic, political, social, cultural, and psychological fields of human practice. A general model is proposed to clarify the reasons for such reductionism. The only solution may be the ontological reconstruction of alienation as a universal and essential aspect of Dasein. It is shown that the ideas of Hegel, Marx, and Heidegger are of fundamental importance for such a conceptualization of the problem of alienation. Despite the fundamental ontological and methodological differences, they not only proceed from the understanding of alienation as a key problem of human existence, but also reconstruct its ontological necessity. The similarity of the views of Marx and Heidegger in this context seems particularly productive, especially considering the fundamental differences in their theoretical dispositions. Both thinkers, although in different ways, come to the conclusion that the fundamental determination of alienation is the very way in which a person reveals his essence - despite the obvious divergence in the understanding of both this essence and the ways of its disclosure. Understanding the extreme incompatibility of historical materialism and phenomenological ontology only emphasizes the interesting paradox of this coincidence, which clearly indicates the fundamental nature of alienation. The main goal of the article is to demonstrate the potential of the philosophical interpretation of alienation in the context of the dialogue between these two traditions.