Saturday, May 8, 2010

The Ethics of Capitalism

One way to interpret ``The Ethics of Capitalism´´ is to consider Capitalism as a socio-economical phenomenon. This socio-economical phenomenon, the accumulation of Capital in private hands, would then be viewed under the light of some external morality, and the ``Ethics of Capitalism´´, if it exists, would consist in this phenomenon being found to be globally good rather than bad.

Another way to interpret ``the Ethics of Capitalism´´ is to consider Capitalism as a socio-economical framework. This socio-economical framework would then be viewed as an ethically neutral given context in which to exert morality, and the ``Ethics of Capitalism´´, if it exists, would consist in a set of rules of Business Ethics to follow so as to behave in a good way rather than a bad way.

I will argue that both interpretations, while they contain a grain of truth, miss something essential, without which they cannot be justified, and with which they become so secondary as to not deserving anything more than a statement of their obviousness. The interpretation I propose is more radical.

I will argue that the right way to interpret ``the Ethics of Capitalism´´ is to consider Capitalism as a juridical framework; that this juridical framework can be viewed as the very acknowledgement of what Ethics is. In a strong sense, Capitalism is Ethics: a paradigm of individual choice. Behaving according to the rules of Capitalism is being an ethical agent respectful of the ethical nature of oneself and other persons. Violating the rules of Capitalism is denying the ethical nature of oneself and other persons.

Capitalism is the Institution of Ethics


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