Marxism and Ethics: Freedom, Desire, and Revolution PDF
Preview Marxism and Ethics: Freedom, Desire, and Revolution
B l POLITICAL SCIENCE / PHILOSOPHY a c k Marxism and Ethics is a comprehensive and highly readable introduction to the l e rich and complex history of Marxist ethical theory as it has evolved over the d last century and a half. Paul Blackledge argues that Marx’s ethics of freedom g Marxism e underpin his revolutionary critique of capitalism. Marx’s conception of agency, he argues, is best understood through the lens of Hegel’s synthesis of Kantian and Aristotelian ethical concepts. Marx’s rejection of moralism is not, as Ethics suggested in crude materialist readings of his work, a dismissal of the free, M and purposive, subjective dimension of action. Freedom, for Marx, is both the essence and the goal of the socialist movement against alienation, and freedom’s concrete modern form is the movement for real democracy against the capitalist Freedom, Desire, and Revolution a separation of economics and politics. At the same time, Marxism and Ethics is also a distinctive contribution to, and critique of, contemporary political r philosophy, one that fashions a powerful synthesis of the strongest elements x of the Marxist tradition. Drawing on Alasdair MacIntyre’s early contributions to British New Left debates on socialist humanism, Blackledge develops i an alternative ethical theory for the Marxist tradition, one that avoids the s inadequacies of approaches framed by Kant on the one hand and utilitarianism m on the other. “This book provides impressive evidence of the intellectual and moral strengths of contemporary Marxism. Paul Blackledge has provided the best history so a far written of Marxism’s engagement with ethics. He enables us to understand n Marx’s own moral concerns better than Marx himself did. And he has made an incisive contribution to contemporary moral debate. Critics of Marx and d Marxism, including sympathetic critics such as myself, will have to take this book very seriously.” E — Alasdair MacIntyre, author of After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Third Edition t h Paul Blackledge is Professor of Political Theory at Leeds Metropolitan University. He is the author of Perry Anderson, Marxism, and the New Left and i Reflections on the Marxist Theory of History, and the coeditor (with Graeme c Kirkpatrick) of Historical Materialism and Social Evolution. s A volume in the SUNY series in Radical Social and Political Theory Roger S. Gottlieb, editor State University of New York Press www.sunypress.edu Paul Blackledge Marxism and Ethics SUNY series in Radical Social and Political Theory ————— Roger S. Gottlieb, editor Marxism and Ethics Freedom, Desire, and Revolution PAUL BLACKLEDGE Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2012 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Production by Eileen Meehan Marketing by Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Blackledge, Paul, 1967– Marxism and ethics : freedom, desire, and revolution / Paul Blackledge. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-3991-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Socialism—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title. HX45.B53 2012 171'.7—dc22 2011010773 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Kristyn, with love Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Marxism’s Ethical Deficit 1 1 Ethics as a Problem for Marxism 19 2 Marx and the Moral Point of View 45 3 Ethics and Politics in Second and Third International Marxism 101 4 Western Marxism’s Tragic Vision: Socialist Ethics in a Non-Revolutionary Age 141 5 Alasdair MacIntyre’s Contribution to an Ethical Marxism 171 Conclusion: From Ethics to Politics 195 References 209 Index 229
Description:The list of books you might like
