Constructing Marxist Ethics

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

Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Introduction


PART I: MARXIST HUMANISM AND ETHICAL MODELS

1. The Marxian Roots of Radical Humanism
Lawrence Wilde

2. The Idea of the “Struggle for Recognition” in the Ethical Thought of the Young Marx and its Relevance Today
Tony Burns

3. Political Economy and the Normative: Marx on Human Nature and the Quest for Dignity
Lauren Langman and Dan Albanese

4. Art as Ethics: The Aesthetic Self
Ian Fraser


PART II: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RIGHTS AND JUSTICE

5. Reclaiming Marx: Principles of Justice as a Critical Foundation in Moral Realism
Wadood Y. Hamad

6. Marx as a Critic of Liberalism
Sean Sayers

7. Marx, Modernity and Human Rights
Bob Cannon

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


PART III: TOWARD A THEORY OF MARXIST ETHICS

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

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

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

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

13. The Ethical Implications of Marx’s Concept of a Post-Capitalist Society
Peter Hudis

Index