The System of Economic Contradictions

Proudhon Library

P.-J. Proudhon, “System of Economic Contradictions” (Eighth Epoch—Property)

January 3, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur
[Parts of this translation are quite rough, so use with caution and preferably with reference to the original French.] THE SYSTEM OF ECONOMIC CONTRADICTIONS CHAPTER XI EIGHTH EPOCH.—PROPERTY 1.—Property is inexplicable apart from the economic series.—Of the organization of common sense, or problem of certainty. The problem of property is, after that of human destiny, the greatest that reason can propose, and the last that it will be able to resolve. Indeed, the theological problem, the enigma of religion, has been explicated; the philosophical problem, which treats the value and legitimacy of knowledge, is resolved: there remains the social problem, […]
Proudhon Library

From “The System of Economic Contradictions”

March 29, 2015 Shawn P. Wilbur
[I discovered that one section of the chapter on property did not appear among the translations I have posted online. After some searching, however, it did appear among my working files.] II The subject and object of science are found; the truth of thought and being are authentically established: it remains for us to find the method. Philosophy, in it more or less deep researches on the object and legitimacy of thought, has not been slow to perceive that it followed, without knowing it, certain forms of dialectic which recurred unceasingly, and which, studied more closely, were soon recognized as […]