Constructing Marxist Ethics: Critique, Normativity, Praxis

by Michael J. Thompson (Editor)

Overview

Marx and subsequent Marxists have often been chided for paying insufficient attention to purely moral and ethical questions. Constructing Marxist Ethics Critique, Normativity, Praxis brings together leading Marxist thinkers from various fields to lay these charges to rest.

Does Marxism posses an ethical impulse? Is there a moral foundation that underpins the Marxist critique of capitalism and the vision for socialism? These essays, each from different vantage points, respond affirmatively to these questions and each examine what kind of values should be at the heart of the Marxian enterprise.

Contributors are: Dan Albanese, Paul Blackledge, Bob Cannon, Tony Burns, Ian Fraser, Ruth Groff, Wadood Hamad, Christoph Henning, Peter Hudis, Lauren Langman, George E. McCarthy, Sean Sayers, Michael J. Thompson, and Lawrence Wilde

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608466412
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	03/01/2016
Series:	Studies in Critical Social Sciences
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	361
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Michael J. Thompson, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Political Science, William Paterson University, USA

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

List of Contributors viii

Introduction 1

Part 1 Marxist Humanism and Ethical Models

1 The Marxian Roots of Radical Humanism Lawrence Wilde 9

2 The Idea of the "Struggle for Recognition" in the Ethical Thought of the Young Marx and its Relevance Today Tony Burns 33

3 Political Economy and the Normative Marx on Human Nature and the Quest for Dignify Lauren Langman Dan Albanese 59

4 Art as Ethics The Aesthetic Self Ian Fraser 86

Part 2 Critical Perspectives on Rights and Justice

5 Reclaiming Marx 109

Principles of Justice as a Critical Foundation in Moral Realism Wadood Y. Hamad 109

6 Marx as a Critic of Liberalism Sean Sayers 144

7 Marx, Modernity and Human Rights Bob Cannon 165

8 Last of the Schoolmen Natural Law and Social Justice in Karl Marx George E. McCarthy 192

Part 3 Toward a Theory of Marxist Ethics

9 Philosophical Foundations for a Marxian Ethics Michael J. Thompson 235

10 Political Economy with Perfectionist Premises Three Types of Criticism in Marx Christoph Henning 266

11 G.A. Cohen and the Limits of Analytical Marxism Paul Blackledge 288

12 On the Ethical Contours of Thin Aristotelian Marxism Ruth Groff 313

13 The Ethical Implications of Marx's Concept of a Post-Capitalist Society Peter Hudis 336

Index 357