“[Marx] realized that under capitalism, value is detached from human activity and placed onto the object made to be sold. This is not incidental; indeed, it is the very essence of capitalism. Without it, there would be no capital to accumulate, and of course, no capitalists to get rich and powerful. But it is a devastating situation for spirit. For it means that the capitalist mode of production displaces the core of human activity from human beings to things. If spirit is somehow a function of what it means to be a human being — and I do not see how this conclusion can be escaped — then it follows that under capitalism, spirit is bound to be thwarted, or as Marx would have said, alienated.”

Joel Kovel