How capitalism undermines freedom

Lea Ypi (London School of Economics)

Monday 10 February 2025 16:30 - 18:00

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About this event

A prominent tradition in philosophy maintains that, unlike other animals, humans experience freedom in connection to moral responsibility. On this account, freedom has both an internal and an external component. Internal freedom is the freedom required to think what is right. External freedom is the freedom required to do what is right. I call the freedom that enables us to do what is right, freedom of agency. I use the term agency to distinguish it from choice, which I understand as capacity to select between different options. The argument I explore in this paper is that capitalism structurally undermines our freedom of agency even as it seems to respect our freedom of choice. I further argue that the symptom of capitalist structural unfreedom is the alienation of agents. I conclude by discussing some objections and implications for institutional design and political action

This event is organised by the LSE Programme on Cohesive Capitalism

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For further information please contact Lubala Chibwe by email: l.chibwe@lse.ac.uk.