The Open Society and Its Enemies

In “Marx’s Ethics,” Popper sets out to evaluate Marx’s views on morality. The author argues that Marxist ethical theory is not identifiable directly. Marx’s criticism of capitalism in its entirety can be qualified as a moral condemnation, as he perceived it as slavery (403-05). However, at no point does Marx present ethical ideals as such despite the fact that Capital is a “treatise on social ethics” (405).

Next, Popper emphasizes the significant impact that Marx had on Christianity because of its moral appeal (416). He credits him with the decline of Christian movements that endorsed capitalist exploitation, especially on the European continent. The author even likens Marx’s influence on Christianity to that of Luther on the Roman Catholic Church (406).

Marx was also a forefather of what is called activism today. He argued that people must prove themselves in actions, not words (407). For Marx, socialism is the “kingdom of freedom” in which man is a “master of his own environment” (407). However, Popper contrasts this call to action with Marx’s pervasive historicism, including his belief in the “inexorable laws” of history and the “natural phases of its evolution” (407), which undermine activism.

Popper challenges Marx’s “historicist moral theory” because this theory presupposes the dependence of moral categories on specific circumstances (410). For instance, Marx advocated the proletarian morality of the future in a socialist context. Marx also viewed socialism as a necessary stage in historic development rather than a morally sound system per se (410).

Popper takes his argument further and asserts that Marx’s historicist approach is another iteration of moral positivism. Whereas Hegel believed that might is right and thereby justified existent moral standards of the state, Marx argued that might of the future—proletarian morality under socialism—is right. Popper sees no fundamental difference in these two approaches (411-12). The author believes that Marx did not fully consider the logical consequences of his historicist treatment of morality because of its implications (412). That said, Popper believes that the humanitarian aspects of Marx’s ethics remain relevant, whereas scientific, historicist Marxism is dead (416).