There have been many philosophers in the history of mankind but the problem of alienation of man has been a matter of great concern to a number of scholars ranging from Marx to Marcuse. These philosophers have linked alienation of man to the processes of modernization and development. Mahatma Gandhi has also responded to the impacts, that the processes of modernization and development have been leaving on society in general and man in particular.
Man is alienated from nature, as his work tends to become increasingly monotonous. Man is always in competition with each other, and lastly man is alienated from his own self, as the realm of necessity dominates his life and reduces him to this level of an animal existence, leaving no room for a taste of art and cultural heritage. Gandhi fully agrees with Marx’s concept of alienation of man, he disagrees with him as far as the cause of alienation is concerned. Unlike Marx, who locates the whole problem in modern capitalism, Gandhi locates it in the amoral nature of man, being one of the natural repercussions of unending competition and consumerism which mark the contemporary societies.
The contemporary societies according to Gandhi face a kind of disorder which gets reflected in the developmental model being pursued at varied levels. Rather than locating the disorder in the institutional arrangements, he locates it in the spiritual soul which rather than being represented in its higher form has degenerated into the lower self (physical self), in the present political set up. Gandhi, as such explains the cause of degeneration.
The physical self is the modernized conception of the self where man is the competitor for and a rational accumulator and consumer of property. It considers all desires worth pursuing so long as they are freely chosen, and so long as in pursuing them no harm is done to others, the modem self, lives, moves and has its being in the closed circle of rational egoism and rational choice.
This self becoming a collection of egoistic and self-centered individuals, according to Gandhi has generated a human crisis. The human beings are getting degenerated into their lower selves - the physical selves, whereby their consciousness is reduced to the level of the body. This has the consequence of unending self-indulgence of man in a continual hankering after instantaneous gratification of material and physical wants. Materialism has defined the contemporary world. The materialistic values have not only permeated the individual life-styles but also the societies, governmental bodies and all the developmental policies.
These tendencies including exploitation, domination, inequality and oppression etc. according to Gandhi, are becoming almost universal and are reflected not only in the relationships of one country with another but everywhere else, at every level-to the extent that it effects the very nature of the human being. So dehumanized the human beings become that it effects the whole civilization. It was against all these negative growths of mechanization that Gandhi fought for. This can be owed to the fact that he always considered man to be supreme. Machines must always remain the means to the happiness of man rather than becoming an end in itself.