A Logical Analysis of the Criticism of Alienation and the Deduction of De-alienation from the Perspective of Western Marxism

Abstract

The critical reflection on the problem of reification has been the main thread of the century-long journey of Western Marxism. In the process of comprehensively elaborating and innovatively developing the critique of reification, Western Marxism has constructed and deduced logical coordinates based on the changing circumstances of the times, analyzed the new forms of alienation in human existence, and proposed some new paradigms of theoretical thinking, attempting to demonstrate the powerful vitality of the critical approach of Marxism. However, on the whole, the Western Marxist interpretation of the critique of reification and the direction of de-reification has three major shortcomings: weakening or neglecting the foundational position of political economy critique, the increasing disconnection between "theoretical weapons" and political practice, and the gradual inward contraction of practical solutions. With the outbreak of the new round of digital and artificial intelligence revolution, the theory of reification critique can only effectively explore the true path of the organic unity of technological rationality and humanistic rationality, materiality and humanity by broadening its perspective, updating its paradigms, and facing up to the reification attributes of things themselves and the de-reification forms of materiality.