Marxist Ethics: A Short Exposition

摘要

Willis H. Truitt's book brings Marx's work into conversation with the ideas of Anglo-American moral philosophy. He does an excellent job of establishing an ethics derived from Marx's work, but not everyone will agree with his theory. First, the notion that Marx had an ethical system has been disputed by several thinkers (such as Bertell Oilman and Allen Wood). Second, Truitt also rejects the prevalent idea that a moral system needs to have universal application through time and place. Nonetheless, Truitt develops interesting counter-arguments to these positions. He develops an elegant ethical theory, which is fairly comprehensive for such a short book. Moral philosophers will benefit the most from this work, but they will probably not agree with its analysis. Non-specialist readers can learn a lot from Truitt's book, since he gives a good overview of moral theory while confronting the traditional difficulties involved in developing a Marxist ethics.