An Ambiguity in Marx's and Engels's Account of Justice and Equality
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9438373 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alan Gilbert (University of Denver, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1982 |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 328-346 |
| Publication date | 1982-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1961113 |
| OpenAlex | W4237823379 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 22 |
Given the widespread moral conventionalism or historicism in contemporary social science and ethics, many have viewed Marx as arguing either that conceptions of justice simply shift historically and lack objectivity (relativism) or that notions of justice are to be understood solely as expressions of class interests (reductionism). Although metaethical ambiguities about the status of conceptions of justice influenced some of Marx's and Engels's formulations, they condemned the “crying contrasts” of rich and poor. Marx is better understood as defending a version of moral objectivity or moral realism. The paper begins with an example from the recent debate about justice in the international distribution of wealth to highlight the implausibility of a relativist or reductionist account. It then describes alternative views of the status of justice and equality in Marx and Engels and explores the logical structure of Marx's critique of Proudhon. A fourth section examines the analogy between Marx's and Engels's realism in the philosophy of science and their realist arguments in ethics, focusing on Marx's and Engels's non-relativist and non-reductionist conception of moral progress. The conclusion sets Marx's use of concepts of exploitation in the context of his overall moral judgments and suggests that Marx's social or historical theory rather than his moral standards are the most controversial part of his ethical argument
Economic Justice · Epistemology · Moral psychology · Moral realism · Moral relativism · Objectivity (philosophy · Realism · Reductionism · Relativism · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political Philosophy and Ethics
The philosophy of social explanation.
Natural Right and History
Hegel's Theory of the Modern State
An Essay concerning Human Understanding
From Max Weber
Marx on Internationalism and War
A Theory of Justice
Marx on Right and Justice
The Marxian Critique of Justice
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Marx, Justice and History
Theories of Value and Distribution since Adam Smith
On the Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
Marx's Politics
Historical Theory and the Structure of Moral Argument in Marx
Social Theory and Revolutionary Activity in Marx
The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century
The Moral Economy of the Peasant
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.03 |
| Citation span | 1986 - 1986 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |