Marx on the compatibility of freedom and necessity: A reply to David James

Kandiyali, Jan

doi:10.1111/ejop.12289

Marx on the compatibility of freedom and necessity: A reply to David James

Kandiyali, Jan

Authors

Dr Jan Kandiyali jan.kandiyali@durham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in Political Theory

Abstract

In a recent paper, David James argues for a new understanding of the compatibility of freedom and necessity in Marx's idea of a communist society. According to James, such compatibility has less to do with anything distinctive about the nature of labour and more to do with how communist producers organize the sphere of material production. In this paper, I argue that James provides a nuanced and plausible account of one part of Marx's story of the compatibility of freedom and necessity in communist society but that his account misses another, and, in my view, more fundamental part of the story. The part I have in mind centres on Marx's claim that communist producers achieve their freedom through the performance of necessary labour—by helping others to satisfy their needs. I argue that Marx is committed to a stronger claim than James wishes to make, namely, that freedom and necessity are not merely compatible but that participation in the realm of necessity is required for human freedom.

Citation

Kandiyali, J. (2017). Marx on the compatibility of freedom and necessity: A reply to David James. European Journal of Philosophy, 25(3), 833-839. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12289

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	May 30, 2017
Online Publication Date	Aug 10, 2017
Publication Date	2017-09
Deposit Date	Sep 23, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Sep 24, 2021
Journal	European Journal of Philosophy
Print ISSN	0966-8373
Electronic ISSN	1468-0378
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	25
Issue	3
Pages	833-839
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12289

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Copyright Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Kandiyali, Jan (2017). Marx on the compatibility of freedom and necessity: A reply to David James. European Journal of Philosophy 25(3): 833-839., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12289. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.