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Capitalism And Morality

Capitalism And Morality

5 Mins
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March 2, 2015

Is business basically good in character or basically evil? Are objective values possible without freedom to trade? What is the source of technology, industry, and material wealth? Is the economy a pie that needs to be redistributed for the common good? And what is the "common good"?

What kind of political system does capitalism require? Why is physical force inimical to capitalism and to trade? What is the relation between capitalism and freedom, and between capitalism and individual rights? Today capitalism is still widely attacked in books and government and even in street protests. What is the reason for these attacks?

The answers to these important questions, and more, can be found in the following essays.

what is capitalism

Recommended background reading:
"What is Capitalism?" in
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
Today we live in era of that some call the triumph of capitalism. But, as this essay shows, political thinkers and economists hardly know the meaning of capitalism. Rand explains what capitalism is, why it made the Industrial Revolution possible, and how it came to be vilified and almost universally misunderstood in the 20th century. "The moral justification of capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system consonant with man's rational nature, that it protects man's survival qua man, and that its ruling principle is: justice." Rand explains what conditions capitalism requires and maintains, and she conducts a searing attack on an interpretation of capitalism that was widespread in her time and remains common today.

The Two Faces of Capitalism
There are two fundamentally different types of business leaders because there are two very different means for achieving financial success. The first is the economic means: goods and services are voluntarily produced and sold to consumers in open competition. When profits are won by such economic means, private and public wealth is created, and virtually no one, except less-efficient competitors, are made worse off...

The second means: the political means. Entrepreneurs who take this route are sometimes referred to as "crony capitalists" or “political capitalists”: individuals who turn to government to supplement, and even override, consumer choice. And whenever these political capitalists win, consumers, business rivals, and/or taxpayers lose. Examples of political entrepreneurship include an industry establishing certification requirements to block the entry of new competitors, or a domestic seller acquiring tariffs to hamper foreign rivals.

Related: Read about the 2015 Atlas Shrugged Crony Awards

Food for Thought
Over the decades, talk of economic "inequality" waxes and wanes, and is currently on the front burner in America. As this classic essay points out, despite the use of numbers, this entire discussion is dominated by an image, the image of a pie that has appeared somehow on the table and must now by divided up. It is a false image, a mirage. Wealth, unlike fun, can be tallied numerically, but like fun it is not a collective phenomenon. Wealth is the product of individual thought, ability, and effort. Wealth is not found, but created, and the identity of the creators is a matter of public record. They are the inventors, entrepreneurs, doctors, teachers, and producers in every other line of work, who earn what they receive in voluntary exchange with others.

Video: What are Rights?
Political controversies and protests are often dominated by the theme of rights. We hear about a "right to health care," a "right to education," even a "right to high-speed Internet." In California, one man has even claimed a "right to longboard" on city sidewalks. Others claim there is no "right to health care" because such a right entails forcing others to pay for one's health care—and coercion they say is a violation of individual rights. How can we make sense of competing claims to rights? How can we gain a solid understanding of what rights are? In this video, economics professor and Atlas Society program director Will Thomas shares footage from recent rights protests and gives us a practical "tool" to use to evaluate claims of "rights."

The Capitalist Ideal: The Moral Revolution in Atlas Shrugged
Rand's great achievement was to offer a vision of capitalism as a moral ideal. Her characters illustrate the virtues of rationality, production, and trade—and the vices of parasitism and power. The narrative dramatizes the struggle of producers against parasites and predators, and traces the consequences of that struggle across a whole society. And the meaning of these events is put into words, in speeches by various characters that lay out a new philosophy and moral code of individualism. In its characters, its plot and its philosophical themes, Atlas is about a new revolution, a capitalist revolution. It is truly The Capitalist Manifesto.

A Life of One's Own: Individual Rights and the Welfare State by David Kelley

"Anyone interested in the moral legitimacy of the welfare state must deal with the arguments in this book." —Ellen Frankel Paul, Editor, Social Philosophy and Policy

The welfare state rests on the assumption that people have rights to food, shelter, health care, retirement income, and other goods provided by the government. In this groundbreaking book, David Kelley examines the historical origins of that assumption, and the rationale used to support it today.

The Morality of Capitalism
Atlas Society founder and Chief Intellectual Officer David Kelley contributed an essay, "Ayn Rand and Capitalism: The Moral Revolution", to the 2011 book The Morality of Capitalism: What Your Professors Won’t Tell You. Read more about this popular book here.

David Kelley, Ph.D.
About the author:
David Kelley, Ph.D.

David Kelley gründete 1990 die Atlas Society (TAS) und war bis 2016 als Geschäftsführer tätig. Darüber hinaus war er als Chief Intellectual Officer für die Überwachung der von der Organisation produzierten Inhalte verantwortlich: Artikel, Videos, Vorträge auf Konferenzen usw.. Er zog sich 2018 von TAS zurück, ist weiterhin in TAS-Projekten aktiv und ist weiterhin Mitglied des Kuratoriums.

Kelley ist ein professioneller Philosoph, Lehrer und Autor. Nach seinem Doktortitel in Philosophie an der Princeton University im Jahr 1975 trat er der Philosophischen Abteilung des Vassar College bei, wo er eine Vielzahl von Kursen auf allen Ebenen unterrichtete. Er unterrichtete auch Philosophie an der Brandeis University und hielt häufig Vorlesungen an anderen Universitäten.

Kelleys philosophische Schriften umfassen Originalwerke in Ethik, Erkenntnistheorie und Politik, von denen viele objektivistische Ideen in neuer Tiefe und in neuen Richtungen entwickeln. Er ist der Autor von Der Beweis der Sinne, eine Abhandlung in Erkenntnistheorie; Wahrheit und Toleranz im Objektivismus, zu Themen der objektivistischen Bewegung; Unrobuster Individualismus: Die egoistische Grundlage von Wohlwollen; und Die Kunst des Denkens, ein weit verbreitetes Lehrbuch für einführende Logik, jetzt in der 5. Auflage.

Kelley hat Vorträge gehalten und zu einer Vielzahl politischer und kultureller Themen veröffentlicht. Seine Artikel zu sozialen Fragen und öffentlicher Ordnung erschienen in Harpers, The Sciences, Reason, Harvard Business Review, The Freeman, Aus Prinzip, und anderswo. In den 1980er Jahren schrieb er häufig für Barrons Finanz- und Wirtschaftsmagazin zu Themen wie Egalitarismus, Einwanderung, Mindestlohngesetzen und Sozialversicherung.

Sein Buch Ein Eigenleben: Individuelle Rechte und der Wohlfahrtsstaat ist eine Kritik der moralischen Prämissen des Wohlfahrtsstaates und die Verteidigung privater Alternativen, die individuelle Autonomie, Verantwortung und Würde wahren. Sein Auftritt in John Stossels ABC/TV-Special „Greed“ im Jahr 1998 löste eine landesweite Debatte über die Ethik des Kapitalismus aus.

Als international anerkannter Experte für Objektivismus hielt er zahlreiche Vorträge über Ayn Rand, ihre Ideen und Werke. Er war Berater bei der Verfilmung von Atlas zuckte mit den Achseln, und Herausgeber von Atlas Shrugged: Der Roman, die Filme, die Philosophie.

 

Hauptwerk (ausgewählt):

Konzepte und Naturen: Ein Kommentar zu Die realistische Wende (von Douglas B. Rasmussen und Douglas J. Den Uyl),“ Reason Papers 42, Nr. 1, (Sommer 2021); Diese Rezension eines kürzlich erschienenen Buches beinhaltet einen tiefen Einblick in die Ontologie und Erkenntnistheorie von Konzepten.

Die Grundlagen des Wissens. Sechs Vorlesungen zur objektivistischen Erkenntnistheorie.

Das Primat der Existenz“ und“Die Erkenntnistheorie der Wahrnehmung„, Die Jefferson School, San Diego, Juli 1985

Universalien und Induktion„, zwei Vorträge auf den GKRH-Konferenzen, Dallas und Ann Arbor, März 1989

Skepsis„, Universität York, Toronto, 1987

Die Natur des freien Willens„, zwei Vorträge am Portland Institute, Oktober 1986

Die Partei der Moderne„, Cato Policy Report, Mai/Juni 2003; und Navigator, Nov. 2003; Ein vielzitierter Artikel über die kulturellen Unterschiede zwischen vormodernen, modernen (Aufklärung) und postmodernen Auffassungen.

Ich muss nicht„(IOS-Journal, Band 6, Nummer 1, April 1996) und“Ich kann und ich werde“ (Der neue Individualist, Herbst/Winter 2011); Begleitartikel darüber, wie wir die Kontrolle, die wir über unser Leben als Individuen haben, Wirklichkeit werden lassen.

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