The-Morality-of-Capitalism-PDF

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equality in exchange is economically absurd, it may still be (andis) upheld as a moral ideal.Equality as a moral issue is a quite complicated matter. We candistinguish between those perspectives for which the achievementof equality is the dominant concern and those for which it is not;accordingly, the former are known as egalitarian perspectives andthe latter as nonegalitarian perspectives. Nonegalitarians neithernecessarily assert the undesirability of equality, nor need they assertthe desirability of inequality; they merely reject the exclusiveegalitarian focus on equality as a goal, to the exclusion of othergoals, and especially the focus on assuring equality of materialwealth. Classical liberal (or libertarian) nonegalitarians do assertthe importance of a certain kind of equality, namely, equality ofbasic rights, which they hold to be inconsistent with equality ofoutcomes, so they could be considered egalitarians of a differentsort. (Equality of rights is at the foundation of much of the experienceof law, property, and toleration that people in modern andfree societies take for granted.) Nonegalitarian libertarians andclassical liberals defend their view as the purest or most consistentor most sustainable form of equality, but advocates of equality ofwealth “distribution” generally claim that such libertarian equalityis merely formal, equality in words, but not in deeds. (In thatthey have a point, in that legal equality is very much about whatpeople think and how they act, rather than about describablestates of the world or static distributions of assets. Whether suchan approach to equality is merely formal, rather than substantive,depends on how one views the importance of legal proceduresand standards of behavior.)It’s hardly unusual for difficult philosophical questions to beactively discussed before they are clearly formulated or properlyposed. Philosophers of the East and the West propounded ethicaldoctrines for thousands of years before there was much systematicanalysis of judgments regarding duty and performative logic.Such work was begun in earnest by David Hume and followedby Immanuel Kant and later by positivist philosophers such asGeorge Moore, Alfred Ayer, Richard Hare and others; the investigationof performative and deontic logic is ongoing. Althoughthe dispute between egalitarian and nonegalitarian stances is not57
limited merely to consideration of the proper logical relationshipbetween equality and morality, understanding the relationshipbetween equality and morality would be a worthy contribution tothe ongoing and intense debate about whether forced redistributionof unequal wealth generated by market exchange is morallyrequired or morally forbidden. (That is quite a separate issuefrom whether resources stolen from rightful owners, whether byrulers of states or by “free lance” criminals, should be returned tothose who were despoiled.)Let’s consider the problem of the morality of equality througha simple question: why is equality, either of initial endowmentsor of outcomes, morally superior to inequality (or vice versa)? Anhonest attempt to arrive at an ethical resolution of the disputerequires that such a direct question should be addressed to bothegalitarians and nonegalitarians.The range of possible answers is limited. One might first tryto establish that certain numerical proportions (of equality orinequality) are better than any others. For example, the ratio ofX to Y is morally superior if the values of the variables are equaland morally inferior if not, i.e., if the ratio of “1:1” is superior tothat of “1:2” (and, a fortiori, superior to “1:10”). In spite of whatmight seem like the evident clarity of such a position, however,the question of moral features is not so easily resolved. Values arenot derived from statements of mathematical proportion, whichare by themselves ethically neutral. It’s quite arbitrary to assert thesuperiority of one mathematical ratio over another, rather like thecurious practice of the Pythagoreans, who classified numbers asmale, female, amicable, perfect, deficient, and so on.Rather than directing attention to equality of either initial endowmentsor the outcomes of exchanges, it might make more senseto focus attention on the equality or inequality of one’s personalmoral status as the basis for evaluation of the relations (includingexchanges) among persons. Thus: no person has a morallysuperior (or inferior) status to any other person or, alternatively,some people are morally superior (or inferior) to others. On sucha foundation one might deduce the desirability or undesirabilityof insisting on equal initial endowments or outcomes. Bothperspectives might converge on forced redistribution, either to58
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The Morality of CapitalismWhat Your
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ContentsIntroduction: The Morality
Page 6 and 7:
Introduction: The Morality of Capit
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China, Morocco, the United States,
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in a friendly sense.” 9 The word
Page 12 and 13: Marx saw the “bourgeoisie” as i
Page 14 and 15: usinesses rising and falling more r
Page 16 and 17: and one an economist, and an interv
Page 18: Section IThe Virtues ofEntrepreneur
Page 21 and 22: is why I was mentioning the sophomo
Page 23 and 24: our society are motivated by purpos
Page 25 and 26: promote microfinance in poor countr
Page 27 and 28: ownership of wealth, was highly str
Page 29 and 30: in the world for a couple of hundre
Page 31 and 32: without a strong business sector th
Page 34 and 35: lightning rod and Watt’s steam en
Page 36 and 37: Competition and CooperationBy David
Page 38 and 39: advocates of “back to nature”
Page 40 and 41: that the associations within civil
Page 42 and 43: For-Profit Medicine and the Compass
Page 44: Profit and CompassionThat’s too s
Page 48 and 49: The Paradox of MoralityBy Mao Yushi
Page 50 and 51: after assessing the situation, sett
Page 52 and 53: efrigerators and color TVs, are onl
Page 54 and 55: epair trade are crowded out by the
Page 56 and 57: person, followed the principle of e
Page 58 and 59: if in return for A taking the bigge
Page 60 and 61: The Moral Logic of Equality and Ine
Page 64 and 65: eliminate or to establish inequalit
Page 66 and 67: earned by the poorest 10% of the po
Page 68 and 69: Adam Smith and the Myth of GreedBy
Page 70 and 71: them to lobby the state to create c
Page 72 and 73: strangers, but when we haggle for t
Page 74 and 75: Ayn Rand and Capitalism: The Moral
Page 76 and 77: the welfare state, which redistribu
Page 78 and 79: Welfarism: The Unchosen ObligationT
Page 80 and 81: Egalitarianism: “Fair” Distribu
Page 82 and 83: A worker is hired because of the an
Page 84 and 85: To live by reason we must accept in
Page 86 and 87: Economic outcomes in the market—t
Page 88: is a social asset is incompatible w
Page 92 and 93: The Market Economy and the Distribu
Page 94 and 95: no unfavorable, economic results. O
Page 96 and 97: owner, actual or potential, reflect
Page 98 and 99: losses prompted by the chance of, o
Page 100 and 101: We are not saying, of course, that
Page 102 and 103: well-being reflects a potentially c
Page 104: discrepancies. The difference was c
Page 108 and 109: Global Capitalism and JusticeBy Jun
Page 110 and 111: preferences, and infrastructure. It
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Human Betterment through Globalizat
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any particular sophistication. Afte
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These young people are returning be
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etterment through exchange and the
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of diverse cultures. In this manner
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primitive magical-religious communi
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to censure, repression, and margina
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That is why the best defense of our
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A Little Further Reading for Fun an
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Dr. Tom G. Palmer is executive vice
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14 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
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Index of Proper Names(Chinese names
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The Pierre F. and Enid Goodrich Fou
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Students For LibertyA Free Academy,
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Additional Resources for LibertyThe
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“We need to change the narrative
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