"Notes on James Mill" is a text written by

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

in 1844, originally part of the so-called "Paris Notebooks". In it Marx criticizes parts of

James Mill James Mill (born James Milne; 6 April 1773 – 23 June 1836) was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. He also wrote ''The History of Brit ...

's ''Elements of Political Economy''. It forms the foundation for what later became his ''

Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 The ''Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844'' (german: Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte aus dem Jahre 1844), also referred to as the ''Paris Manuscripts'' (') or as the ''1844 Manuscripts'', are a series of notes written between Apri ...

''. "Notes on James Mill" is particularly important to the development of Marx's overall project because it gives insight into the concept of non-alienated labor. Marx here describes unalienated labor as labor in which one's personality is made objective in one's product and in which one enjoys contemplating the features of one's personality in the object one produces. As one has expressed one's talents and abilities in the productive process, the activity is

authentic Authenticity or authentic may refer to: * Authentication, the act of confirming the truth of an attribute Arts and entertainment * Authenticity in art, ways in which a work of art or an artistic performance may be considered authentic Music * A ...

to one's character. It ceases to be an activity one loathes. Marx further claims that one gains immediate satisfaction from the use and enjoyment of one's product - the satisfaction arising from the knowledge of having produced an object that corresponds to the needs of another human being. One can be said to have created an object that corresponds to the needs of another's essential nature. One's productive activity is a mediator between the needs of another person and the entire species. Marx suggests that this confirms the "communal" character of

human nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...

, since individuals play an essential role in the affirmation of each other's nature.

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"Notes on James Mill"
Communist books Books by Karl Marx Social Democratic Party of Germany {{poli-philo-book-stub

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