Marxism and Ethics: Freedom, Desire, and Revolution

252 Pages·2012·2.98 MB·English

by  Paul Blackledge

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