ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how the Hegelian-Marxist historical account of freedom can reveal some important aspects of freedom that are ignored by the negative and positive conceptions of freedom. It explores the enhancements of everyone's freedom in capitalism through the emergence of economic and political freedoms for all. The chapter argues that capitalism is not a system where everyone is equally free, by comparing the equal formal freedom in the realm of exchange with the unequal substantive freedom in the realm of production. It focuses on the limitations of everyone's freedom in capitalism through being subject to the impersonal laws of the market. The chapter also focuses on the relationship between work, leisure and self-development. According to Marx, the unfreedom in work is the main form of unfreedom in capitalism. Although capitalism creates both the objective possibility and the subjective need for non-alienated work and extended leisure, it fails to actualize these essential components of positive freedom.
