Defenders of Capitalism never stop trying to deny that Capitalism is the system of self-interest, and that self-interest is its prime driving force—and the source of its great moral strength. In The Driving Force of Free Markets Is Empathy, Not Greed, Dr Rainer Zitelmann claims, “Only the entrepreneur who prioritizes other people’s needs can be successful. Empathy, the ability to recognize the desires and needs of others, is the true basis of capitalism—not unbridled greed and selfishness.”
Both capitalists and anti-capitalists frequently accuse capitalism of being a system driven by selfishness and greed. Capitalism’s defenders sometimes say: “By nature, man is selfish, which is why socialism will never work. Capitalism better reflects the fundamental characteristics of human nature.” Anti-capitalists claim that capitalism promotes the worst characteristics in man, especially greed.
But are greed and unbridled selfishness really the driving forces of capitalism? Human self-interest is one—not the only—driving force of all human action. But this has nothing to do with a particular economic system. Rather, it is an anthropological constant. In capitalism, however, this self-interest is curbed by the fact that only the entrepreneur who prioritizes other people’s needs can be successful.
Unfortunately, selfishness is never properly defined, just seems to be assumed to equate with treating others badly, rather than the end result of being rational. That’s what’s behind the idea that self-interest needs to be “curbed,” rather than to acknowledge that man needs a moral code to teach him to figure out what is in his self-interest and how to achieve it.
It’s true that to succeed under Capitalism, the entrepreneur must consider or project the needs and wants of consumers. But that focus is a means to the end, not the end. The end--the driving force--is personal fulfillment—selfishness, properly understood as rational self-interest. But every coin has two sides. If the entrepreneur unselfishly “prioritizes other people’s needs,” then what does that make his consumers? According to Zitelmann’s standard, these consumers are geedy takers exploiting the good empathetic nature of the entrepreneur.
This is nonsense. The consumer is primarily motivated by the same moral force as the entrepreneur, rational selfishness. By protecting every individual from force and fraud through individual rights, Capitalism prioritizes every person’s freedom to pursue his own happiness through trade. Trade is mutually beneficial self-interest in action. By protecting individual rights, Capitalism denies the ability to achieve one’s ends through coercion, predation, violence, fraud, or other criminal means. In this sense, Capitalism actually curbs, rather than promotes, “the worst characteristics in man.” But this is not meant to curb genuine self-interest, the pursuit of personal happiness. The great virtue of a system built on rational selfishness is that it protects everyone’s pursuit of happiness equally by denying to everyone the achievement of one’s goals by engaging in rights-violating actions. *
The happy consequence of this universal benevolent display of “greed” (which is never defined, either) is a system of general betterment without the sacrifice of anyone’s self-interests.
So we get another attempt to define capitalism as something that everybody knows it is not--unselfish. This is and always has been destructive. The underlying assumption that Zitelmann’s line of defense fosters is that Capitalism is at best a necessary evil. To save Capitalism, Capitalism’s defenders must proudly embrace its obvious moral root as a necessary good, making Capitalism itself a necessary good.
* [In fact, it is altruism that promotes the worst characteristics in man. Rational selfishness promotes mutual respect, universal benevolence, and peaceful coexistence. Altruism promotes universal predation as a moral ideal.]
Related Reading:
Why Capitalism is Selfish--and Why That’s Good
Books to Aid in Understanding Rational Selfishness
Capitalism and the Moral High Ground by Craig Biddle
Why Capitalism Needs a Moral Sanction
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