Marx’s critiques of capitalism based on his practical ethics of freedom: an ontological reconstruction through the Hegelian theories of ethical life and social freedom

Doğa Öner

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2025, vol. 49, issue 6, 1187-1213

Abstract: I reconstruct Marx’s critical adaptation of the Hegelian theory of ethical life and social freedom to explore his ethical critiques of capitalism as a system of unfreedom. While freedom holds a central role in Marx, its meaning and role within historical materialism remain implicit. An ontological analysis of Marx’s inheritance of the theory of ethical life leads to conceptualizing his practical ethics consistent with the historical materialist social theory. Hegel’s socialized theory of freedom helps systematize Marx’s concept of freedom that contains emphases on individual realization, free labour, collective self-determination and stronger social bonds. This historical analysis illuminates Marx’s critiques of capitalism that overturn the Hegelian understanding of modern society as a system of social freedom that combines particularity and universality within relationships of reciprocal recognition. Marx shows that capital materially institutionalizes misrecognition of others, subjugates individuals as an untransparent and alien power, systematically constrains personal/negative freedom in accordance with its valorization requirements and turns it into a moment for reproducing a deeper system of unfreedom.

Keywords: Marx; Hegel; Critical theory; Freedom; Capitalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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