How to understand the relationship between historical materialism and Marx’s idea of justice? The
well-know Canadian philosopher, Kai Nielsen, “who is indeed closer to Marxist moralism in substantive
conclusion, but, methodologically speaking, it is more in the spirit of Marxist immoralism”
(Nielsen,1987: p. 114), points out Marx’s ideological system is not a valueless theory of science and
society, and the facts and value judgments can be unified in Marx’s theory. Nielsen reveals the profound
idea of justice as the basic dimension of historical materialism, and the internal unity of fact
judgment and value judgment in a dual dimensions, based on the perspective of historical materialism,
showing “justice could be highlighted in the perspective of historical materialism”.
References
[1]
Marx et al. (1995). Marx and Engels Anthology. Vol. 2, People’s Publishing House.
[2]
Marx et al. (2004). Marx and Engels Anthology. Vol. 5, People’s Publishing House.
[3]
Marx et al. (2009). Marx and Engels Anthology. Vol. 3, People’s Publishing House.
[4]
Nielsen, K. (1979). On Deriving an Ought from an Is: A Retrospective Look. The Review of Metaphysics, 32.
[5]
Nielsen, K. (1986). Marx, Engels and Lenin on Justice: The Critique of the Gotha Programme. Studies in Soviet Thought, 32, 33.
[6]
Nielsen, K. (1987). Justice, Class Interests and Marxism. Philosophica, 39, 114.
[7]
Nielsen, K. (1988). Arguing about Justice: Marxist Immoralism and Marxist Moralism. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 17, 212-234.
[8]
Nielsen, K. (1988). Marx on Justice: The Tucker-Wood Thesis Revisited. The University of Toronto Law Journal, 38, 57.
[9]
Nielsen, K. (1988). On Marx Not Being an Egalitarian. Studies in Soviet Thought, 35, 319.
[10]
Nielsen, K. (1989). Marxism and Arguing for Justice. Social Research, 56, 737.
[11]
Nielsen, K. (1989). Marxism and the Moral Point of View: Morality, Ideology and Historical Materialism. Westview Press.
[12]
Xu, G. W., & Zheng, W. (2015). Practical Significance of Marx’s Theory of Alienation Based on the “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844” Perspective. Gansu Theory Research, 6, 95.
[13]
Yu, J. H. (2013). Historical Materialism, Morality, Justice, and Evaluation of Marxist Immoralism and Marxist Moralism. Marxism & Reality, 5, 48-54.
