Social Justice: The relationship between the economy and the law in Proudhon

Proudhon asserted the relevance of political economy against purely po- litico-philosophical approaches, but he did not propose the adoption of the liberal utilitarian approach nor positivistic socialism1. He rather proposed a third way between market and communism based on the principle of justice. This orientation towards a third way is not only due to his theorisation of political economy, but it derives from his peculiar conception of the law and from the way justice interacts with the economy.