Vol. 2 No. 4 (2020)
Vol. 2 (4): Dialektika - Philosophy in Times of Coronavirus

Essays

Marxism and Ethical Socialism

Published 01-05-2020

Renzo Llorente
Division of Humanities, Saint Louis University, Madrid Campus

Dialektika journal Coronavirus

Abstract

One of the principal legacies of analytical Marxism has been a moralization of Marxism, for some of the most influential analytical Marxists came to endorse the view that the Marxist condemnation of capitalism and defense of socialism ultimately derive from normative ethical considerations. If we accept this new interpretation of Marx and Marxism, with its emphasis on the moral foundations of Marxist doctrine, we are forced to reconsider the relationship between Marxism and another socialist tradition for which moral commitments are also fundamental, namely ethical socialism. If our reconsideration of this relationship avoids common misconceptions about ethical socialism (such as the idea that it implies reformism, or that it is identical to “utopian socialism”), we find that the dichotomy between ethical socialism and Marxist socialism proves untenable, at least in the terms in which it has usually been formulated.

Keywords

Marxism, Roy Edgley, Norman Geras, Utopian socialism, Ethical Socialism

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Author Biography

Renzo Llorente

Renzo Llorente es profesor de filosofía en la Facultad de Humanidades del campus de Madrid de Saint Louis University. Sus investigaciones se centran en la filosofía política, la ética aplicada y la filosofía latinoamericana y ha publicado numerosos artículos en revistas especializadas dentro de estos campos. Es autor, además, de The Political Theory of Che Guevara (Rowman and Littlefield International, 2018) y Beyond the Pale: Exercises in Provocation (Vagabond Voices, 2010), y traductor y editor de The Marxism of Manuel Sacristán: From Communism to the New Social Movements (Brill, 2014). Actualmente está preparando un libro sobre el pensamiento político de Fidel Castro.

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