摘要：The question I have posed - should a marxist believe in Marx on rights? - is instigated by the debates in the literature over Marx, marxism and rights. In 1982 Alan Buchanan was able to write, in his widely acclaimed book Marx and Justice, that Marx's view of civil liberties and political rights 'has been neglected'. Things have changed considerably since 1982. There have been a number of attempts recently to establish and evaluate Marx's position on civil and political rights. For example, Steven Lukes, Drucilla Cornell and William McBride have engaged in a debate in the pages of Praxis International over the status of rights in Marx's thought and marxist theory. What the proper question is has itself been an important part of the exchange. Lukes asks 'can a marxist believe in rights?' He clarifies his question by indicating that he really means to investigate whether a commitment to rights is consistent with the 'central doctrines essential to the marxist canon'. Upon an analysis which directs its attention to the 'marxist tradition', he concludes that a marxist cannot be consistent and 'believe in rights'. One way to address Lukes would, of course, be to challenge the notions of 'central doctrines', 'marxist canon' and 'marxist tradition'. In his response to Lukes, William McBride does this well, arguing that the notion of a canon 'connotes an essential rigidity' which is neither plausible nor helpful, since marxism is indeed an internally diverse and contested terrain. While I too want to reject the notion of a marxist canon for all substantial purposes, asking what Marx thought of rights has the more limited potential of destabilizing what tends to be treated as the received canon, which provides the basis of Lukes' answer to the question.
其他摘要：The question I have posed - should a marxist believe in Marx on rights? - is instigated by the debates in the literature over Marx, marxism and rights. In 1982 Alan Buchanan was able to write, in his widely acclaimed book Marx and Justice, that Marx's view of civil liberties and political rights 'has been neglected'. Things have changed considerably since 1982. There have been a number of attempts recently to establish and evaluate Marx's position on civil and political rights. For example, Steven Lukes, Drucilla Cornell and William McBride have engaged in a debate in the pages of Praxis International over the status of rights in Marx's thought and marxist theory. What the proper question is has itself been an important part of the exchange. Lukes asks 'can a marxist believe in rights?' He clarifies his question by indicating that he really means to investigate whether a commitment to rights is consistent with the 'central doctrines essential to the marxist canon'. Upon an analysis which directs its attention to the 'marxist tradition', he concludes that a marxist cannot be consistent and 'believe in rights'. One way to address Lukes would, of course, be to challenge the notions of 'central doctrines', 'marxist canon' and 'marxist tradition'. In his response to Lukes, William McBride does this well, arguing that the notion of a canon 'connotes an essential rigidity' which is neither plausible nor helpful, since marxism is indeed an internally diverse and contested terrain. While I too want to reject the notion of a marxist canon for all substantial purposes, asking what Marx thought of rights has the more limited potential of destabilizing what tends to be treated as the received canon, which provides the basis of Lukes' answer to the question.
