Economics & Finance / Economic Theory / Economic Methodology

The Economic Theory That Declared God Humanity’s Enemy

Système des contradictions économiques ou Philosophie de la misère

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s radical 1846 work "System of Economic Contradictions, or The Philosophy of Poverty" is laid bare in this slide-by-slide breakdown. It’s not just dry theory—Proudhon exposes the hidden violence within everyday economic pillars like division of labor, machinery, competition, and even taxation, proving how each inevitably generates misery alongside progress. Most shockingly, he frames God not as a savior but as a dialectical tool that hinders human liberation, concluding that atheism is the only path to real justice. You’ll see how use value and exchange value are locked in a death spiral, why machines never truly freed workers, and why competition always ends in monopoly. This video unpacks the core arguments, delivers the brutal contradictions, and reveals why Proudhon’s savage critique of both capitalism and utopian socialism still stings today. Author: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French philosopher and father of anarchist thought. Book: ‘Système des contradictions économiques ou Philosophie de la misère’ (1846), known in English as ‘System of Economic Contradictions: Or, the Philosophy of Poverty.’