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Single Idea 23874

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / j. Ethics by convention ]

Full Idea

Marx saw that social groups manufacture moralities for their own use, so their activity is placed outside the reach of evil. Thus the first articles of soldiers and businessmen is to deny that it is possible to do evil while waging war or doing business.

Gist of Idea

Armies and businesses create moralities in which their activity can do no wrong

Source

report of Karl Marx (works [1860]) by Simone Weil - Fragments: London 1943 p.146

Book Ref

Weil,Simone: 'Oppression and Liberty' [Routledge 1955], p.146

A Reaction

This is especially true of the modern reverence for 'market forces'. It is a key debate in the ethics of warfare - compare Walzer and McMahon. A striking thought, obviously containing a lot of truth.

Related Idea

Idea 23599 You don't become a legitimate target, just because you violently resist an unjust attack [McMahan]

The 11 ideas from 'works'

20576 Early Marx anticipates communitarian objections to liberalism [Marx, by Oksala]
23862 By saying the material dialectic of history aspires to the best, Marx agreed with capitalism [Weil on Marx]
21999 False consciousness results from concealment by the superstructure [Marx, by Singer]
23875 Marx says force is everything, and that the weak will become strong, while remaining the weak [Weil on Marx]
18653 Marx rejected equal rights because they never actually treat people as equals [Marx, by Kymlicka]
20958 Capitalism changes the world, by socialising the idea of a commodity [Marx, by Bowie]
23876 The essence of capitalism is the subordination of people to things [Marx, by Weil]
20960 Marx thought capitalism was partly liberating, and could make labour and ownership more humane [Marx, by Bowie]
23874 Armies and businesses create moralities in which their activity can do no wrong [Marx, by Weil]
18662 Liberal freedom is the right to be separate, and ignores the union of man with man [Marx]
23372 Liberals want the right to be separate, rather than for people to be united [Marx]