Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 14:229-242 (1982)
Abstract |
The principles of historical materialism involve Marx in making two crucial claims about freedom. The first is that the revolutionary proletariat is, in an important sense, more free than its class antagonist the bourgeoisie. The second is that the beneficiaries of a successful proletarian revolution—the members of a solidly established communist society—enjoy a greater freedom than even proletarians engaged in revolutionary praxis. It is perhaps natural to take Marx to be operating here with what might be called a logically continuous notion of freedom, established communists enjoying to perfection what revolutionary proletarians merely imperfectly experience and what the bourgeoisie entirely misses. But whatever one's views might be about what Marx in fact says about freedom this cannot be what he ought to say for his theory of freedom to work. The kind of line Marx need to take finds a significant precedent in his economics where we find a theory implying two quite distinct logical dimensions in that the principles and concepts designed to apply to the transactions of capitalism necessarily lack descriptive purchase on communist economic reality. The existence of these two dimensions, and particularly Marx's comparative silence as to the nature of the second, reflect his conviction that the transition between the two systems must be marked by a profound conceptual as well as material break. Consequently it is not unreasonable, perhaps, to look for an analogous discontinuity in his metaphysics and to expect to find two distinct varieties of freedom, the one reflecting the nature of class society, the other of human community.
|
Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) |
Categories |
No categories specified (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1017/S1358246100001831 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
The Concepts of the Sceptic: Transcendental Arguments and Other Minds.G. W. Smith - 1974 - Philosophy 49 (188):149 - 168.
Citations of this work BETA
No citations found.
Similar books and articles
Crise et conjoncture révolutionnaire: Marx et 1848.Irene Viparelli - 2009 - Actuel Marx 46 (2):122-136.
Friedman, Liberalism and the Meaning of Negative Freedom: Vardaman R. Smith.Vardaman R. Smith - 1998 - Economics and Philosophy 14 (1):75-93.
The Freedom of Collective Agents.Frank Hindriks - 2008 - Journal of Political Philosophy 16 (2):165–183.
Concept of Freedom in Locke and Marx with Relation to Sudan.Mohamedelhassan Abdalla Hassabelnabi - 1997 - Dissertation, Michigan State University
Mill and Marx: Human Nature, the Individual and Freedom.Paul M. Smart - 1989 - Dissertation, Keele University (United Kingdom)
Marx, Rationalism and the Critique of the Market.Tony Fluxman - 2009 - South African Journal of Philosophy 28 (4):377-413.
Marxian Freedom, Individual Liberty, and the End of Alienation.John Gray - 1986 - Social Philosophy and Policy 3 (2):160.
Li Zehou's Aesthetics as a Marxist Philosophy of Freedom.Brian Bruya - 2003 - Dialogue and Universalism 13 (11-12):133-140.
Marx's Conception of Freedom in his Late Years. Hung-te - 1999 - Philosophy and Culture 26 (3):221-236.
Freedom After the Critique of Foundations: Marx, Liberalism, Castoriadis and Agonistic Autonomy.Alexandros Kioupkiolis - 2012 - Palgrave-Macmillan.
Intellectual Freedom and Economic Sufficiency as Educational Entitlements.Jane Fowler Morse - 2001 - Studies in Philosophy and Education 20 (3):201-211.
Paradoxes and Possibilities of “Confucian Freedom”: From Yan Fu to Mou Zongsan.Kai Marchal - 2016 - Philosophy East and West 66 (1):218-258.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2017-02-21
Total views
30 ( #378,939 of 2,499,664 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #418,206 of 2,499,664 )
2017-02-21
Total views
30 ( #378,939 of 2,499,664 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #418,206 of 2,499,664 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads