Social Sciences in China, 2020

Vol. 41, No. 1, 2020

 

The Marxian Concept of Justice Based on Historical Materialism

(Abstract)

 

Feng Yanli

　　

The question of “Marx and justice” has been a key theoretical and practical issue that has attracted academic attention and discussion both at home and abroad since the birth of Marxism, and in particular since the 1970s. From the perspective of historical materialism, Marx’s concept of justice is rooted in material practice rather than abstraction; it is the organic union of distributive justice and productive justice that transcends the limitations of traditional ideas on distributive justice. Marx’s concept of justice as the union of distributive justice and productive justice is mainly reflected in his Capital. Allen Wood and Z.I. Husami, with other Western scholars, have engaged in a dispute over the question of “Marx and justice.” Wood and Husami’s views, though quite different, are confined to the theory of distributive justice. John Rawls’ justice theory, which emphasizes equity, has also failed to reach the lofty heights of Marx’s theory of justice. Marx’s concept of justice, as developed in Capital, has the “full and free development of every individual” at its core and integrates distributive justice and productive justice. It transcends the abstract concept of justice of the bourgeoisie that centering on equal rights reflects the dialectical unity of historical logic, the logic of reality and the logic of theory and practice.

 

Keywords: Marx, distributive justice, productive justice, integration