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Johann Benjamin Erhard on economic injustice

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  • Widmer, Elisabeth Theresia

Abstract

Unlike Johann Benjamin Erhard’s views on art, right, revolution, and structural misrecognition, his discussion of economic injustice, here understood as the lawful economic oppression of one’s end-setting human nature, has garnered little attention. To begin filling this gap, I focus on central passages from his 1795 book On the Right of the People to a Revolution wherein Erhard discusses two cases of economic injustice. By reconstructing these claims within his Kantian perfectionist framework, I pursue two goals. First, I seek to demonstrate that his fundamental ‘duty to oneself’ lays out a comprehensive framework for duties grounding moral obligations to remedy economic practices. My second aim is to utilize this framework to explain how he defends a natural law position that views the legal system as both a remedy for and an ideological tool of economic oppression. I argue that this twofold perspective is a strength of Erhard’s theory as it allows for the detection of oppressive economic structures without letting go of a principle of external freedom from where coercive juridical laws can be derived.

Suggested Citation

  • Widmer, Elisabeth Theresia, 2025. "Johann Benjamin Erhard on economic injustice," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 127477, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:127477
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    Keywords

    perfectionism; perfect and imperfect duties; capitalism; Marxism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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