Professional paper

Justice and Egalitarianism in Marx and Hayek

Matko Vlahović

Abstract

Concepts of justice and egalitarianism are theory-wise problematic due to their abstractness. This paper will take into account the considerations of Karl Marx and Friedrich Hayek, who reject references to so-called humanistic concepts such as justice and egalitarianism from radically opposed positions. According to both Marx and Hayek, the concepts do not have any specific function in the cognition of material reality. Due to this, the need for introducing them into economic discourse is categorically rejected. The question this paper poses is about the specific distinction in their understanding of humanistic concepts which enables Marx to make a claim for a revolutionary overcoming of the present state, while Hayek's rejection of the concepts of justice and egalitarianism enables conservative politics and the legitimacy of the market economy. I will try to show that humanist concepts are a product fan ideological mode of thinking about and of dealing with the inherent contradictions of capitalism which want to come to terms with these contradictions without a radical change in relations of production. As such, they merely retain the value of „practical signposts“ in Marxist political action.

Keywords

egalitarianism; justice; humanism

Hrčak ID:

224107

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/224107

Publication date:

31.7.2019.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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