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Marx and Social Justice
Ethics and Natural Law in the Critique of Political Economy
Series: - Historical Materialism Book Series, Volume: 147
Author:
In Marx and Social Justice, George E. McCarthy presents a detailed and comprehensive overview of the ethical, political, and economic foundations of Marxâs theory of social justice in his early and later writings. What is distinctive about Marx's theory is that he rejects the views of justice in liberalism and reform socialism based on legal rights and fair distribution by balancing ancient Greek philosophy with nineteenth-century political economy. Relying on Aristotleâs definition of social justice grounded in ethics and politics, virtue and democracy, Marx applies it to a broader range of issues, including workersâ control and creativity, producer associations, human rights and human needs, fairness and reciprocity in exchange, wealth distribution, political emancipation, economic and ecological crises, and economic democracy. Each chapter in the book represents a different aspect of social justice. Unlike Locke and Hegel, Marx is able to integrate natural law and natural rights, as he constructs a classical vision of self-government âof the people, by the peopleâ.
George E. McCarthy is Professor of Sociology at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. (1972) in philosophy from Boston College and an M.A. and Ph.D. (1979) in sociology from the Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research. He has been a research fellow at the universities of Frankfurt/Main, Munich, and Kassel, Germany. He is the author of a number of works, including Marx and the Ancients: Classical Ethics, Social Justice, and Nineteenth-Century Political Economy (Rowman & Littlefield, 1990) and Classical Horizons: The Origins of Sociology in Ancient Greece (SUNY Press, 2002).
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Ethical Archaeology of Justice in Marx
1 Natural Law and Natural Rights in Locke: Indifference and Incoherence of Liberalism
âThomas Hobbes and the State of Nature and War
âRichard Hooker and the Laws of Nature and Ecclesiastical Polity
âLocke on Natural Rights and Natural Law
âEthics and Structure in Natural Law
âNatural Law Limits to Natural Rights in the Original State of Nature
âEclipse of Natural Law and Social Justice in the Second State of Nature
âIrrelevance of Natural Law, Incoherence of Liberalism, and the Return to Hobbes
2 Justice Beyond Liberalism: Natural Law and the Ethical Community in Hegel
âEarly Theological Writings and Dreams of Classical Antiquity in Hegel
âHegelâs Natural Law and Critique of Liberalism and Natural Rights
âSocial Ethics and Integration of Natural Law and Natural Rights
âHegelâs Philosophy of Right, Law, and the State as Objective Spirit
âFormation of the Ethical Life in the Family, Civil Society, and the State
âMarxâs Critique of Hegel and the Revival of Classical Democracy in Spinoza and Rousseau
3 Civil and Legal Justice: Integrating Natural Rights and Natural Law
âReligious Prejudice, Judaism, and Civil Rights
âNatural Rights as Ideology and Alienation
âTransition of Politics from Pure Ideology to Human Rights and Emancipation
âCritique of Liberal Democracy and Contradictions between Economic and Political Rights
âMarxâs Theory of Emancipation and Human Rights
âNatural Rights of Free Press and Universal Suffrage
4 Workplace Justice: Ethics, Virtue, and Human Freedom
âAlienation and the Virtue of Work and Self-Determination
âWork as Productive Life and Creative Beauty
âEthics, Human Needs, and Natural Law
âVirtue and Late Medieval Thomistic Natural Law
5 Ecological Justice: Historical Materialism and the Dialectic of Nature and Society
âAlienation of Production, Labour, and Nature
âDialectic of Nature and the Alienation of Consciousness
âNatural Science as the Objectification and Social Praxis of Species Being
âScience as Objectivity and Alienation
âSocial Metabolism, Contradictions, and Ecological Crises
âSocial Justice and the Natural Laws of Ethics and Ecology
6 Distributive Justice: Justice of Consumption, Economic Redistribution, and Social Reciprocity
âLabour, Nature, and Society in the Gotha Program
âEquality, Fair Distribution, and the Public Expenses of Production
âDistribution, Fairness, and the Means of Social Consumption
âSocialism, Self-Realisation, and Human Need
âCritique of Reformist and Vulgar Socialism â Happiness without Meaning
7 Political Justice: Ethics and the Good Life of Democratic Socialism
âFranco-Prussian War and the Formation of the Paris Commune of 1871
âDismantling the Old State and Rise of Political Democracy in the Commune
âOrganisation of Labour and Economic Democracy
ââDeclaration to the French Peopleâ and the Social Programmes of the Commune
âMarx, Lincoln, and the Human Emancipation from Racial and Wage Slavery
8 Economic Justice: Ethics, Production, and the Critique of Chrematistics and Political Economy
âCommodities, Exchange, and the Labour Theory of Value
âLabour Power, Surplus Value, and the Alienation of Chrematistic Production
âNatural Law of Contradictions, Crises, and Capital
âNatural Law of Justice and Natural Law of Value
Bibliography
Index
Introduction: The Ethical Archaeology of Justice in Marx
Dialectic between the Ancients and the Moderns: Natural Law and Natural Rights
1 Natural Law and Natural Rights in Locke: Indifference and Incoherence of Liberalism
âThomas Hobbes and the State of Nature and War
âRichard Hooker and the Laws of Nature and Ecclesiastical Polity
âLocke on Natural Rights and Natural Law
âEthics and Structure in Natural Law
âNatural Law Limits to Natural Rights in the Original State of Nature
âEclipse of Natural Law and Social Justice in the Second State of Nature
âIrrelevance of Natural Law, Incoherence of Liberalism, and the Return to Hobbes
2 Justice Beyond Liberalism: Natural Law and the Ethical Community in Hegel
âEarly Theological Writings and Dreams of Classical Antiquity in Hegel
âHegelâs Natural Law and Critique of Liberalism and Natural Rights
âSocial Ethics and Integration of Natural Law and Natural Rights
âHegelâs Philosophy of Right, Law, and the State as Objective Spirit
âFormation of the Ethical Life in the Family, Civil Society, and the State
âMarxâs Critique of Hegel and the Revival of Classical Democracy in Spinoza and Rousseau
Ethics, Virtue, and Natural Law in Marx
3 Civil and Legal Justice: Integrating Natural Rights and Natural Law
âReligious Prejudice, Judaism, and Civil Rights
âNatural Rights as Ideology and Alienation
âTransition of Politics from Pure Ideology to Human Rights and Emancipation
âCritique of Liberal Democracy and Contradictions between Economic and Political Rights
âMarxâs Theory of Emancipation and Human Rights
âNatural Rights of Free Press and Universal Suffrage
4 Workplace Justice: Ethics, Virtue, and Human Freedom
âAlienation and the Virtue of Work and Self-Determination
âWork as Productive Life and Creative Beauty
âEthics, Human Needs, and Natural Law
âVirtue and Late Medieval Thomistic Natural Law
5 Ecological Justice: Historical Materialism and the Dialectic of Nature and Society
âAlienation of Production, Labour, and Nature
âDialectic of Nature and the Alienation of Consciousness
âNatural Science as the Objectification and Social Praxis of Species Being
âScience as Objectivity and Alienation
âSocial Metabolism, Contradictions, and Ecological Crises
âSocial Justice and the Natural Laws of Ethics and Ecology
Structures of Democracy, Economy, and Social Justice in Marx
6 Distributive Justice: Justice of Consumption, Economic Redistribution, and Social Reciprocity
âLabour, Nature, and Society in the Gotha Program
âEquality, Fair Distribution, and the Public Expenses of Production
âDistribution, Fairness, and the Means of Social Consumption
âSocialism, Self-Realisation, and Human Need
âCritique of Reformist and Vulgar Socialism â Happiness without Meaning
7 Political Justice: Ethics and the Good Life of Democratic Socialism
âFranco-Prussian War and the Formation of the Paris Commune of 1871
âDismantling the Old State and Rise of Political Democracy in the Commune
âOrganisation of Labour and Economic Democracy
ââDeclaration to the French Peopleâ and the Social Programmes of the Commune
âMarx, Lincoln, and the Human Emancipation from Racial and Wage Slavery
8 Economic Justice: Ethics, Production, and the Critique of Chrematistics and Political Economy
âCommodities, Exchange, and the Labour Theory of Value
âLabour Power, Surplus Value, and the Alienation of Chrematistic Production
âNatural Law of Contradictions, Crises, and Capital
âNatural Law of Justice and Natural Law of Value
Bibliography
Index
All interested in issues of ethics, human rights, natural law, humanism, social justice, freedom, equality, wealth distribution, democracy, Aristotle, Marx, Continental social theory, and political economy.