ABSTRACT
Cohen claims to give an internal critique; his aim is to show that capitalism does not provide negative freedom to all people, by comparing private property with communal property, and by establishing the 'collective unfreedom' of the wage labour. He argues that capitalism does not maximize liberty for all; some are free at the expense of others. Problems with Cohen's arguments will reveal the inadequacies of an internal critique. Cohen starts his argument by situating his project of making an internal critique of capitalism in comparison with rival approaches. According to him, egalitarian liberals criticize capitalism by granting that it maximizes freedom but arguing that if the price of unrestricted freedom is poverty and insecurity for many people, it is not worth it. The chapter focuses on the limits of freedom within the realms of production and consumption by evaluating the freedom of contract between the worker and the capitalist, and investigating the limits of the cherished consumer freedom.
