The Market Antinomy

The moral status of the modern market economy is contested amongst philosophers and social theorists. Some argue that it is a moral order; others argue that it is not a moral order. In Frankfurt School critical theory, the former argument is defended by Axel Honneth, and the latter by Jürgen Habermas and Joseph Heath. In this paper, I review the strengths and weaknesses of both arguments and suggest a novel way forward. I conceive of the contradictory arguments as thesis and antithesis of an antinomy akin to Kant’s antinomy of freedom and determinism in the Critique of Pure Reason. I argue that valuable insights can be gained by “remaining within” the space of the antinomy and considering it the result of a genuine contradictory experience: we do conceive the market economy as a moral order and as not a moral order, depending on the standpoint we take. However, in the final section of the paper, I argue that a resolution of the antinomy is possible, and that we must attend to people’s reactive attitudes to market processes and outcomes to find it.