Marx and Exploitation

Author: Wolff J.

Source: The Journal of Ethics, Volume 3, Number 2, 1999 , pp. 105-120(16)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The discussion of the adequacy of Karl Marx's definition of exploitation has paid insufficient attention to a prior question: what is a definition? Once we understand Marx as offering a ``reference-fixing definition in a model'' we will realise that it is resistant to certain objections. A more general analysis of exploitation is offered here and it is suggested that Marx's own definition is a particular instance of the general analysis which makes a number of controversial moral assumptions.

Keywords: coercion; definition; exploitation; exploitation of circumstances; Marx; vulnerability

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Department of Philosophy, University College London. Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

Publication date: 1999-01-01