Is Capitalism Just?
by Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read this paper. My group was tasked to write a persuasive article for or against the question “is capitalism just?” and as you can see we were tasked to write on the “for” side. I know that there is no pure capitalism in place on earth today as well, there is no true socialist socio-economic system in place either. This article is written from an ideological point of view. With that said, yes, there are many short comings of capitalism, paramount is that capitism is amoral. When commenting on this article I hope you can comment from a dualistic point of view, is capitalism just or not. Thanks again for your time reading this paper, I hope you enjoy it and that it stimulates you to think.
Contributionist or Socialist?
A Contributionist’s Viewpoint
There is no definitive answer to whether capitalism is just or not. This philosophical question has been tackled for many years by many people. The only answer to this question is based on the opinion held within each and every one of us. What is known is that this is a complex issue which stirs up strong emotions from both the Contributionist and the Socialist points of view. This document shares the opinions held by many Contributionists and tries to validate the Contributionist’s viewpoint that capitalism is just. We are only going to present some of the main points as to why we feel capitalism is just.
What is Capitalism?
To help us justify that capitalism is just it is imperative that we define our understanding of what capitalism is.
Capitalism is the only social-economic system based around individual rights where property, the means of production and the products produced are privately owned, free of government controls and regulations (WiseGeek, 2003). The government’s role is to protect the rights of the individual. In a capitalistic society individuals are free to determine their own destiny whether it be financial or emotional. With that said any individual is also free to not pursue their destiny. In a capitalistic society an individual is considered competent and is required to use their intellect to determine their destiny.
We can actually get the idea of capitalism from the words of Ayn Rand’s character John Galt, in her novel Atlas Shrugged (1957):
“I swear by my life and by my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”(SparkNotes, 2009).
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Why Capitalism is Popular
In a capitalist society, there are several reasons why capitalism is popular. An individual’s economic self interests benefit other people’s economic self interests (Project21, 1996). Every individual is allowed to produce wealth that is not regulated by government policies. Every individual has the right to efficiently create wealth, an equal opportunity for economic gain and access to a variety of products with no limits or restrict by the government.
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Post Comments hayes
On September 13, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Fantastic paper – very informative
The concepts outlined are significantly affected by one significant variable ….high level corruption – history has taught us that whichever system is in place – it all comes down to the same thing unfortunately!
Superbly written piece
Netty net
On October 4, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Sorry to say I have no opinion of stuff like capitalism and socialism
I like lean more about them before making any comments.