This work relocates the origins of nineteenth-century social theory in classical Greece and focuses on three figures: Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim, all of whom wrote dissertations on the culture and structure of ancient society. Greek philosophy, art, and politics inspired their ideas, stirred their imaginations, and defined their intellectual horizons. McCarthy rediscovers the forgotten dreams and classical horizons of these European social theorists and uncovers the close connections between sociology and philosophy, offering new insights into the methods, theories, and approaches of modern social science.

As the Iron Curtain was shattered recently in Eastern Europe, revealing a diversity of cultural traditions lost during the recent past, so too the curtain which has hidden Karl Marx's writings for many years seems to be crumbling. Its disappearance reveals a rich complexity of traditions and visions that underlay his social, political, and economic theory. Marx and Aristotle brings together an outstanding multidisciplinary collection of recent scholarship, most written especially for this volume, to look further behind this historical veil by examining the influence of classical Greek philosophy, especially the thought of Aristotle and Epicurus, on Marx.

In Marx and Social Justice, George E. McCarthy presents a detailed and comprehensive overview of the ethical, political, and economic foundations of Marx's theory of social justice in his early and later writings. What is distinctive about Marx's theory is that he rejects the views of justice in liberalism and reform socialism based on legal rights and fair distribution by balancing ancient Greek philosophy with nineteenth-century political economy. Each chapter in the book represents a different aspect of social justice.

In Marx and Social Justice, George E. McCarthy presents a detailed and comprehensive overview of the ethical, political, and economic foundations of Marx's theory of social justice in his early and later writings. What is distinctive about Marx's theory is that he rejects the views of justice in liberalism and reform socialism based on legal rights and fair distribution by balancing ancient Greek philosophy with nineteenth-century political economy. Relying on Aristotle's definition of social justice grounded in ethics and politics, virtue and democracy, Marx applies it to a broader range of issues, including workers' control and creativity, producer associations, human rights and human needs, fairness and reciprocity in exchange, wealth distribution, political emancipation, economic and ecological crises, and economic democracy. Each chapter in the book represents a different aspect of social justice. Unlike Locke and Hegel, Marx is able to integrate natural law and natural rights, as he constructs a classical vision of self-government 'of the people, by the people'.