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Karl Marx Vs Adam Smith Essay

1740 Words7 Pages

Freedom is the ability to choose—but what freedom can choose transforms the meaning of freedom. Freedom marks one of the schisms between the ideas of Adam Smith and Karl Marx in that Smith characterizes freedom from an economic standpoint, whereas Marx defines it from a social standpoint. While Smith is concerned with the process of uninterrupted free trade and how individuals can freely pursue their self-interest through market interactions, Marx is concerned with the life-activity of individuals and the effects of estranged labor, by which an individual is forced to utilize his or her life-activity in a manner that is not a true and voluntary expression of oneself. Both Smith and Marx have valid perspectives of what freedom can entail, but only one of their standpoints grants an individual true freedom. …show more content…

As long as humans “do not violate the laws of justice,” they are free to pursue their self-interest, acting upon their disposition to exchange in their own ways, and to bring their industries and capital into competition with those of others (Smith 16 and 745). Individuals are free to decide how they will satisfy their needs and can produce objects through their labor and earn wages for producing those objects, with which individuals can purchase more capital. When left uninterrupted, this system of free trade will lead to the growth of wealth in a nation, which in turn benefits its denizens. Individuals also have the freedom to move between trades in order to continue earning profits by selling a commodity when its market price is above the natural price. By pursuing their own interests, individuals will be led by an “invisible hand” and promote the interests of society without even intending to do so (Smith 485). Freedom for the individual thus bolsters a nation’s

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