A critical investigation on the problem of the individual in Hegel and Marx’s philosophy

What is the place of the individual in Hegel and Marx’s philosophy? Within the scope of this question, the thesis will present an extensive investigation into the etymological, epistemological, historical, ontological, political and economic existence of the individual. Basically, the main subject is formulated around an examination regarding the political existence of the individual. As matter of fact, it is impossible to consider the existence of the individual outside of these above-mentioned cases. By way of the deliberations of these two philosophers about individuals and how these individuals generate their existence in the political sphere, the following question necessarily emerges: is it possible to speak of the existence of the individual in the modern state? While Hegel is known as a philosopher who talks about the individual and includes the individual in his philosophy more than others; Marx’s social philosophy has often been defined as society-centered and it has been proposed that there is not any place for the individual in his philosophy. According to this view, Marx did not touch on the issue of the individual and dealt only with issues relating to community while, philosophically and sometimes politically, Hegel’s political project is the most successful expression of the individual in the political sphere. However, one of the main objectives of this thesis is to refute this standpoint. To this end, this thesis raises two fundamental questions. First; when Hegel speaks of the individual, how much room in the political sphere does he really give to the individuals? Is his project of developing a political theory, which is allegedly individual-centered, successfully realized? Secondly, did Marx really ignore the individual? Accordingly, the main claim of this thesis is that although Hegel asserts that the individual exists in the political sphere and achieves their freedom within the state, in my view, within Philosophy of Right Hegel disproves himself; however, contrary to arguments claiming that Marx did not address the problem of the individual, within the context of his early writings, Marx presents an analysis of the individual and demonstrates by way of an economic and political criticism that the individual is not free as claimed. Starting from this point of view, we can conclude that the claim paradoxically stating that the individual exists in the state or in the political sphere is no more than illusion.