Historicity or Alienation: From Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel to Marek Siemek

Szymon WRÓBEL

Techno-Humanities Lab, Faculty of “Artes Liberales,” University of Warsaw, ul. Nowy Świat 69, 00-046 Warsaw, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The fundamental question the author puts in this text is that of the relation between the philosophy of Marek Siemek and Hegel’s theory of historicity and socialization. The concept of modern forms of socialization taken from Hegel’s thought makes it possible for Siemek to understand the phenomenon of the modern world and to confront the forms in question with modern ones. The central transformation in philosophy is that of the abstract figures of the Spirit found in Hegel into the material conditions of existence found in Marx. Marx, in Siemek’s opinion, in transforming Hegel’s project of social philosophy has brought to light, from the very process of work, the original reality of all socialization, within which historically defined forms of individual existence are only secondarily articulated. For Marx, ‘socialization’ is a primary category and it implies an intersubjective reality of relations established in the processes of work, in speech, and in reproduction. This ‘socialization’ is primary to the material reality of the effects of this process on the one hand and subjective existence and self-knowledge of the personal subject on the other. The commodity form of capitalist society is merely a symptom of the fact that the economy assumes a certain degree of socialization. For Siemek, the modern form of socialization is its single, ultimate and irreversible social and political reality. ‘Modernity’ is thought here as a collection of modern forms of empowerment. These, however, turn out to be functions of modern inventions, such as the institutions, the policies of mediation, and the negotiation and coordination techniques.