[372] could be painted. What is the character of this bourgeois society?--or better, industrial society^a, because it transcends by far the mere bourgeois leaders of it. It is the problem of objectivation^b: man transofmred [sic.] with his world into object, for his own activities as subject, or for himself as subject. Man a thing. In German, we use for this phenomenon the word Verdinglichung, making-into-a-thing--which is a very good word because there is another German word, bedingt, which means conditioned, and a thing is that which is altogether conditioned. But since this word cannot appear in English, other attempts

have been made. "Objectivation," as I called it--and sometimes I found the word "reification," derived from the Latin word res ("object, thing"). Now however we call it--let me call it objectivation, for abbreviation--this is the presupposition for the control of nature and society. If you want to control something, you must transform it into an object. Man is supposed to control nature and to organize society and also himself in society. And he is able to do so. But if he does so, the tragic implication is that he makes first his world and then himself into a mere object. I can exemplify this in one of the main characteristics of man which is usually called homo faber, man who fabricates, man as producer and user of tools. Now what does he fabricate? He fabricates tools, which themselves are objects,

determined exclusively by their use, and he produces tools which become partly independent of himself, namely the machine^c. From tool to machine is a long way, but in principle, in relation to man, they have the same character. Both tool and machine have a tremendously liberating power. And I would