Editing Marx's theory of alienation (section)

=== Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ===
[[File:G.W.F. Hegel (by Sichling, after Sebbers).jpg|thumb|125px|right|Philosopher [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] (1770–1831) postulated the [[idealism]] that Marx countered with [[dialectical materialism]].]]

For Hegel, alienation consists in an "unhappy consciousness". By this term, Hegel means a misunderstood form of [[Christianity]], or a Christianity that hasn't been interpreted according to Hegel's own [[pantheism]].{{sfn|Wood|2004|p=10}}
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In ''[[The Phenomenology of Spirit]]'' (1807), Hegel described the stages in the development of the human ''[[Geist]]'' ('spirit'), by which men and women progress from ignorance to knowledge of the self and of the world. Developing Hegel's human-spirit proposition, Marx said that those poles of [[idealism]]— "spiritual ignorance" and "self-understanding"— are replaced with [[materialism|material categories]], whereby "spiritual ignorance" becomes "alienation" and "self-understanding" becomes man's realisation of his ''Gattungswesen'' (species-essence).

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In [[Marxist theory]], ''Entfremdung'' ('[[social alienation|alienation]]') is a foundational proposition about man's progress towards [[self-actualisation]]. In the ''[[Oxford Companion to Philosophy]]'' (2005), [[Ted Honderich]] described the influences of [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] and [[Ludwig Feuerbach]] upon Karl Marx:<ref name=":1" /> <blockquote>For Hegel, the unhappy consciousness is divided against itself, separated from its "essence", which it has placed in a "beyond".</blockquote>

As used by philosophers Hegel and Marx, the reflexive German verbs ''entäussern'' ('to divest one's self of') and ''entfremden'' ('to become estranged') indicate that the term ''alienation'' denotes self-alienation: to be estranged from one's essential nature.<ref>''Langenscheidt New College Dictionary''. German–English/English–German. 1973. pp. 166–67.</ref> Therefore, alienation is a lack of self-worth, the absence of meaning in one's life, consequent to being coerced to lead a life without opportunity for self-fulfillment, without the opportunity to become actualised, to become one's [[self]].<ref name=":1">Honderich, Ted. 2005. ''[[Oxford Companion to Philosophy]]''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref>
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