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Does Marx Have an Ethic of Self-Realization? Reply to Aronovitch

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1979

Derek P. H. Allen
Derek P. H. Allen*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Extract

There are some Marxist moral philosophers who think that a distinctive and defensible ethic can be unearthed from Marx's writings. The task of unearthing it must, of course, be kept distinct from the task or elaborating and defending it. Professor Aronovitch undertakes both tasks in his paper, but he does not always succeed in keeping them apart. As a result, I believe, damage is done to the exegetical side of his project.

The question of whether there is a Marxian ethic is a problem both of textual interpretation and of moral philosophy. Consider, for instance, the claim that Marx has an ethic whose centrepiece is a principle of selfrealization. It is an exegetical problem to provide evidence that a principle of self-realization is to be found in Marx and to explain how he understands it.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , September 1980 , pp. 377 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 1980

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References

1 See D. C. Hodges, “Marx's Ethics and Ethical Theory,” in The Socialist Register (1964), pp. 227–41: “The Provisional Ethic of the First International,” in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 30 (1970), pp. 394–402; Historical Materialism in Ethics,” in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 23 (1962), pp. 1–22.

2 Brenkert, G. “Marx and Utilitarianism,” in this Journal, 5 (1975), pp. 421-34.Google Scholar

3 Wood, A. W. “The Marxian Critique of Justice,” in Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (1972), pp. 242-82Google Scholar (esp. Section IV, p. 275 ff.).

4 Allen, D. “Reply to Brenkert's ‘Marx and Utilitarianism’,” in this Journal, 6 (1976) pp. 517-34.Google Scholar

5 Capital, Vol. I, tr. S. Moore ' E. Aveling, (Moscow: Progress, 1954), p. 460.

6 Ibid., p. 555.

7 Acton, H. B. The Illusion of the Epoch, (London: Cohen & West, 1955), p. 199.Google Scholar

8 D. C. Hodges, “Marx's Ethics and Ethical Theory,” op. cit., p. 232; H. B. Acton, op. cit., pp. 191, 200-01; d. pp. 133, 178-79.

9 Marx, K. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (hereafter EPM), ed. Struik, D. J. (New York: International Publishers, 1964), pp. 151-52.Google Scholar

10 Marx, K. ' Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Selected Works in One Volume, (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1968), p. 53.Google Scholar

11 See Marx, K. Capital, Vol. III, tr. Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow; (London: Lawrence ' Wishart, 1972), p. 88;Google Scholar Theories of Surplus Value, Part III, tr. Cohen, J. (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1972), pp. 97–98.Google Scholar

12 For a fuller elaboration of this assertion than is provided in the next paragraph, see my “Reply to Brenkert's ‘Marx and Utilitarianism’,” op. cit., p. 528 ff.

13 EPM, ed. D. J. Struik, p. 144. Cf. Marx, K. & Engels, Werke, (Berlin: Dietz Verlag 1956)Google Scholar ff. Suppl. Vol. Pt. I, p. 535.

14 EPM, p. 134.

15 See, for example, Marx, K. Grundrisse, (Pelican Books, 1973), pp. 325, 488.Google Scholar