Self-Knowledge and Capitalism

Ever since Socrates was advised to 'Know thyself'', philosophers have sought after self-knowledge. The most famous result of that quest is Descartes' conclusion that 'I think'. However, that thesis was undermined by, especially, Locke and Hume, who demonstrated that no two momentary I's in consciousness can be shown to be the same. Kant therefore took a different tack, and argued that the object of self-knowledge can only be determined via some object external to consciousness. Hegel continued in that direction, presenting a theory of self-recognition in which one knows oneself via one's perceptions of modifications of the outer world that one has oneself brought about. This insight became the cornerstone of Marx' criticism of Capitalism. For, the sense of self-worth is rooted in self-recognition, and self-recognition is in essence recognition of one's self in one's work. Capitalism thus effects a profound psychological violation by alienating the worker from the fruits of their labor, because the business owner, not the worker, owns the labor performed, and compensation in the form of market-value wages only reinforces the impersonalization and demoralization. Socialism is in part an attempt to restore the sense of self-worth to the working class. Now, not only does the fact that the Soviet Union 'lost the Cold War' not disprove Marx' psychological insight, but many in a Capitalist society express their agreement with it whenever, e. g. they disapprove of a recording company's taking advantage of a musician, the rights to whose music the company owns. Furthermore, this aspect of Capitalism contains its own internal contradiction. On the one hand, it is touted as the economic system of 'personal responsibility', but, on the other, it ruptures the self-knowledge without which that sense of self-responsibility would seem impossible.