Lukács’ conception of individuality as a product of the choice between alternatives within a socially determined totality finally leads to a theory of alienation that partially replaces the theory of reification of the younger Lukács. Whereas the latter theory was closely connected to a theory of collective reappropriation of society, Lukács describes alienation in the Ontology as primarily the result of social conditions that make individuals into merely “particular” personalities (GW 14: 530), instead of allowing them to develop their capacities to the degree that the present development of productive forces could make possible. This means that alienation (for instance, the alienation brought about by excessive professional specialization) must be understood as the socially induced incapacity of individuals to participate in the “species being” or the social totality. The overcoming of alienation thus always demands—along with social changes—subjective transformation, i.e., individual change (GW 14: 551). This finally points towards the ethical dimension of the Ontology. Lukács claims that there is a normative ideal immanent in society as such, namely, the ideal of social relations that allow all persons to fully participate in the social totality with their whole personality and thereby realizing their universal nature.