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Single Idea 24316

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 6. Political freedom]

Full Idea

The right to private property is the self-interested right to dispose of one's own fortune, independently of society, and is the basis of civil society. It makes men see in others not the realisation of his own freedom, but the barrier to it.

Gist of Idea

Private property is self-interested freedom, rather than freedom through community

Source

Karl Marx (On the Jewish Question [1844], Vol 3: 135), quoted by Peter Gibson - Natural Ideas: a naturalist system of philosophy

A Reaction

The idea that freedom is a communal matter is probably Hegel's main legacy to Marx.

Book Reference

Edwards,J/Leiter,B: 'Marx' [Routledge 2025], p.198

Related Idea

Idea 21779 People assume they are free, but the options available are not under their control [Hegel]