The common heritage of mankind : towards definition and initiative

Abstract

Nature in its entirety is Man's inorganic body. It is his direct means of life and at the same time it is the matter, the object and instrument of his life. Man must remain in permanent, perpetual process with it (30a,293 - 295; 19,222;20,23 -24). All nature is part of Man, man as a species. Development has caused a gap between such consciousness that man and nature are one unity. Development has alienated nature from man and hence alienated man from his own species-being. Kant accused specialisation of labour as being the cause of such alienation but believed that international culture can resolve this tragic contradiction. Marx, on the other hand, underlined that private property estranges, alienates man from his species-being transforming the latter into the means of individual life. [Excerpt]