Marx is unique from other philosophers in that he chooses to regard man as an individual, a human being. He declares that man is a "natural being" who is endowed with "natural [and] vital powers" that "exist in him as aptitudes [and] instincts." Humans simply struggle with nature for the satisfaction of man's needs. From this struggle comes man's awareness of himself as an individual and as something separate from nature. So, he seeks to oppose nature. He sees that history is just the story of man creating and re-creating himself and sees that man creates himself, and that a "god" has no part in it. Thus, the communist belief in no religion.Marx also says that the more man works as a laborer, the less he has to consume for himself because his "product and labor are estranged" from him. Marx says that because the work of the laborer is taken away and does not belong to the laborer, the laborer loses his "rightful existence" and is made alien to himself. Private property becomes a product and cause of "alienated labor" and through that, causes disharmony. "Alienated labor is seen as the consequence of market product, the division of labor, and the division of society into antagonistic classes." So, capitalism, which encourages the possession of private property, encourages alienation of man. Capitalism, which encourages the amassment of money, encourages mass production, to optimize productivity. Mass production also intensifies the alienation of labor because it encourages specialization and it makes people view the workers not as individuals but as machines to do work. It is this attitude that incites the uprisings of the lower classes against the higher classes, namely, the nobility. Regarding Marx's attitude toward religion, he thought that religion was simply a "product of man's consciousness" and that it is a reflection of the situation of a man who "either has not conquered himself or has already lost himself again." Marx sums i...
