Why Marxism Still Does Not Need Normative Theory
-
Brian Leiter
Abstract
Marx did not have a normative theory, that is, a theory that purported to justify, discursively and systematically, his normative opinions, to show them to be rationally obligatory or objectively valid. In this regard, Marx was obviously not alone: almost everyone, including those who lead what are widely regarded as exemplary ‘moral’ lives, decide and act on the basis of normative intuitions and inclinations that fall far short of a theory. Yet self-proclaimed Marxists like G. A. Cohen and Jurgen Habermas have reintroduced a kind of normative theory into the Marxian tradition that Marx himself would have ridiculed. This essay defends Marx’s position and tries to explain the collapse of Western Marxism into bourgeois practical philosophy, i.e., philosophizing about what ought to be done that is unthreatening to capitalist relations of production.
© 2015 by Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Contents
- Editorial: The Normative Turn from Marxism
- I. Marx and Ethics: Coherent Company?
- Marx and Mendacity: Can There Be a Politics without Hypocrisy?
- Why Marxism Still Does Not Need Normative Theory
- The Moral Legacy of Marxism
- II. G. A. Cohen’s Development
- G. A. Cohen and Marxism
- Thoughts on G. A. Cohen’s Final Testament
- Equality, Community, and Diversity in Cohen’s Socialist Ideal
- G. A. Cohen, Constructivism, and the Fact of Reasonable Pluralism
- III. Marx and Liberalism
- The Theory of Marxian Liberalism
- Freedom in Times of Struggle: Positive Liberty, Again
- Libertarianism on the Brink
- Sterba on Liberty and Welfarism
- A Response to Jan Narveson: Why Libertarians Are and Are Not Like Turnips
- IV. Repercussions
- Myths about the State of Nature and the Reality of Stateless Societies
- Horkheimer, Religion, and the Normative Grounds of Critical Theology
- Exploitation, Labor, and Basic Income
- In Company of the Funny Sunny Surfer off Malibu: A Response to Michael Howard (and Some Others)
- Authors
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Contents
- Editorial: The Normative Turn from Marxism
- I. Marx and Ethics: Coherent Company?
- Marx and Mendacity: Can There Be a Politics without Hypocrisy?
- Why Marxism Still Does Not Need Normative Theory
- The Moral Legacy of Marxism
- II. G. A. Cohen’s Development
- G. A. Cohen and Marxism
- Thoughts on G. A. Cohen’s Final Testament
- Equality, Community, and Diversity in Cohen’s Socialist Ideal
- G. A. Cohen, Constructivism, and the Fact of Reasonable Pluralism
- III. Marx and Liberalism
- The Theory of Marxian Liberalism
- Freedom in Times of Struggle: Positive Liberty, Again
- Libertarianism on the Brink
- Sterba on Liberty and Welfarism
- A Response to Jan Narveson: Why Libertarians Are and Are Not Like Turnips
- IV. Repercussions
- Myths about the State of Nature and the Reality of Stateless Societies
- Horkheimer, Religion, and the Normative Grounds of Critical Theology
- Exploitation, Labor, and Basic Income
- In Company of the Funny Sunny Surfer off Malibu: A Response to Michael Howard (and Some Others)
- Authors
