When I first conceived of this book, I intended to write a short book and one, the great philosophical figures of the past and a few very eminent contemporaries aside, which made no reference to other philosophers and contained no quotations, footnotes and the like. I ended up doing neither. Indeed I went nearly to the exact opposite. I wrote a rather long book with, among other things, extensive discussions of my contemporaries and near contemporaries.

Marxism and the Moral Point of View attempts to say what consistent Marxists working within the parameters of the canonical conceptions of Marxism should say about morality. This includes what they should say about the function of morality in society, about the extent of moral comment they can justifiably make, and about freedom, equality, and justice, including the justice of whole social formations. Karl Marx-and most Marxists follow him-was opposed.