Freedom and the Individual

Ernesto Screpanti

Chapter 3 in Libertarian Communism, 2007, pp 61-106 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In the previous chapters I first argued that there is a moralist Marx and a moralist Engels and that it is possible, albeit unwarranted, to interpret their theory of communism as founded on a universal philosophy of justice and human essence. I showed not only that the writings of the two revolutionaries are full of moral condemnations of capitalism, but also that in their early works they set out a solidarity ethic which is founded on a humanist ontology of the social being characterized by many a feature of an essentialist metaphysics. However I also argued that an amoralist Marx and an amoralist Engels exist, and that these should be our heroes, but not as economicist philosophers of history. I showed that they explicitly refuse to base their analysis of capitalism and their political positions on any moral philosophy or theory of justice, even an egalitarian one. Is it then true that a paradox emerges here as a consequence of a genuine contradiction of convictions (Geras, 1980, 6)?

Keywords: Social Relation; Social Agent; Universal Class; Liberation Process; Concrete Individual (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-59647-4_3

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230596474_3

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