“Tucker—Wood Thesis” Critical Research

The "Tucker—Wood Thesis" is a combination of related views put forward by American philosophers Tucker and Wood in the early 1970 s.The core of this proposition lies in "Marx does not criticize capitalism with justice".There are three grounds for his argument: First,Marx’s critique of capitalism is based on the scientific nature of historical materialism and is fundamentally incompatible with justice as the concept of legal rights;second,the criterion for judging justice lies in the mode of production,the justice of capitalist society It is compatible with its mode of production;thirdly,the exploitation of surplus value through hired labor is a necessity of the capitalist mode of production,which is not only just but also reasonable.The "Tucker—Wood Thesis" not only has the basis of Marx’s text,but also always adheres to the scientific dimension of historical materialism,emphasizes the importance of the mode of production,and investigates justice issues on this basis.However,Tucker and Wood seem to selectively ignore the literal descriptions in Marx’s text that contradict their views,and there is a lack of dialectical spirit in the methodology.They only emphasize the scientific dimension of historical materialism and ignore its normative dimension;they only emphasize the objectivity of the mode of production and deny its intrinsic value scale;they only see that Marx does not criticize capitalism on the basis of morality but forgets his attitude towards capital.Condemnation of ethical exploitation.After the "Tucker—Wood Thesis" was put forward,it caused a fierce and long-lasting controversy.The construction of Marx’s justice theory demonstrated by this proposition has failed to effectively solve the fundamental problems so far.It is always alerting us that we must return to Marx’s text,transcend the traditional understanding of historical materialism,and be based on the practical activities of human beings in reality.The unity of factuality and value of historical materialism makes the seemingly contradictory views in Marx’s texts dialectically integrated,clarifies the problem of capitalist exploitation,and reconstructs the Marxist theory of justice in the unity of history and logic.