CAPITALISM AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
By: Luis C.
Chirinos
What
are the philosophical underpinnings of
capitalism?
All political systems are ultimately the
expression of some underlying philosophy.
For example, Marxian socialism holds that
man is a collective entity shaped by
economic forces beyond his control, whose
greatest good is to serve the ends of
"society."
Capitalism,
however, is implicitly based upon
a world view which holds that
man's mind is competent in
dealing with reality, that it is
morally good for each person to
strive for his own happiness; and
that the only proper social
arrangement for men to live under
is one in which the initiation of
physical force is banished. This
is the ideological basis upon
which the United States of
America was implicitly founded.
The importance of recognizing the
philosophy which capitalism --
and America rests upon, lies in
the fact that no social system
can be properly understood or
defended, apart from its broader
philosophical framework.
With regard to
morality, capitalism is the only
moral (meaning pro-human-life)
social system because it
safeguards a human's primary
means of survival: his mind.
Through upholding individual
rights, capitalism recognizes the
fact the each and every human
being must use his own mind to
grasp reality and act accordingly
to better his own life.
Capitalism is the only political
system that is based upon man's
true nature as a being who
possesses the faculty of reason
-- capitalism is the only system
that recognizes that human beings
can think. Indeed, individual
rights and capitalism not only
protect the individual person and
property of each human being, but
most importantly, they protect
the individual mind of every
human being.
Historically
speaking, capitalism has been
claimed to be consistent with
philosophies such as
Utilitarianism, social Darwinism,
and even fundamentalist
Christianity. However, these
philosophies are in fact
antithecal to the true nature of
capitalism because they
subordinate the good of the
individual's life on earth to
some "higher good", in
a life "hereafter". In
fact, the only philosophy that is
completely consistent with the
theoretical requirements for
understanding and promoting
capitalism is the philosophy
of Objectivism.
So, what is the
proper role of government in a
capitalist society?
The only legitimate purpose of
government under pure capitalism,
would be to protect its citizens
from force or fraud.
The protection from force, that
is, the protection of individual
rights, has to be achieved
through the use of a police force
to protect the rights of citizens
at home; a military, to protect
the rights of citizens from
foreign aggression; and a court
system to enforce contracts and
settle disputes between citizens.
Since rights can only be violated
by initiating force, the
government's only legitimate use
of force is in retaliation
against those who wrongfully
initiated it.
The greatest aggressor against
man -- the greatest spillers of
human blood, have always been the
various governments that man has
adopted throughout history.
Because governments hold a legal
monopoly on the use of force, the
crimes committed by individuals
acting on their own behalf are
trivial, compared to the crimes,
tyrannies, and wholesale
barbarism that governments have
carried out against their own and
other populations.
This is why it is
crucial that governments be
limited in their ability to use
force, by a constitution based
upon individual rights. That was
the key insight of the Founding
Fathers which made - and has kept
- America freer than any other
nation on earth.
Any other function of government
than those listed above, no
matter what its intentions, would
necessitate the violation of
human rights by initiating the
use of force against the people
it is supposed to protect. For
perhaps a trivial example,
even compulsory tax-supported
education forces some people to
pay for the schooling of others
for whom they would not
voluntarily choose to pay.
To some degree this miniscule
requirement invades the sphere
of human rights and
individual determination.
In the strictest interpretation
of "human rights", the
term promises a moral buffer
between the private citizen and
authoritarian demands, that
require actions or abstentions
that are contrary to the wishes
of the individual - and that do
not savage the rights of others.
Who are the
defenders of capitalism?
There are two thinkers who stand
as virtual twin towers in the
history of pro-capitalist
thought, namely the
novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand and
economist Ludwig von Mises.
The importance of Rand's ideas to
the furthering of capitalism
cannot be overstated, for she
gave capitalism what it had badly
needed: a philosophic defense.
Rand recognized that the
supremacy of reason and the
morality of egoism are the
indispensable philosophical
foundations upon which capitalism
is based. In particular, her
connection of capitalism to
individual rights, and her
recognition that individuals have
the moral right to live for their
own sake makes her philosophy of
Objectivism of utmost importance
for a thorough and consistent
defense of capitalism.
The other tower of pro-capitalist
thought is the most prominent
member of the Austrian school of
economics, and arguably the
greatest economic thinker of all
time, Ludwig von Mises. (The
Austrian school has been the
leading school of pro-capitalist
economic thought since 1871).
Mises's identification of
capitalism
as being the one system which
benefits all, his refutation of
virtually every accusation made
against capitalism (such as the
claims that capitalism leads to
exploitation and depressions),
and his proof of the economic
impossibility of socialism, rank
him the as other great defender
of capitalism of all time.
Other major pro-capitalist
economists are the members of the
Austrian school such as Eugen von
Bohm-Bawerk and Carl Menger, the
French economist Frederic
Bastiat, and members of the
British classical school such as
Adam Smith and Dave Ricardo.
Furthermore, economists and
political philosophers such as
George Reisman, Henry Hazlitt,
Tibor Machan, John Locke, and the
Founding Fathers of the United
States. There are also some less
consistent defenders such as
(monetarist) Milton Friedman,
F.A. Hayek, and Murray
Rothbard, all of whom
constitute important names in the
defense of capitalism.
How is theory
related to practice?
Capitalism's most Frequently
Asked Question is divided into
two parts: Theory and Practice.
This is not to suggest a
dichotomy between the two. Theory
does not exist qua
floating abstraction, without
reference or basis in reality. It
is not just an
"essence" apart from
cognition. Theory is human
theory, and it is theory about
something: existence. As such it
is a reflection on the nature of
existence, the nature of man, and
the relationship between the two.
Practice, or action, is human
action. It is volitional, i.e.
chosen (among alternatives),
directed at a specific end, and
based on value judgment(s) of the
facts of reality.
Political-Economic theory is the
body of fundamental principles
underlying the science of human
action. Theory is abstraction. It
is a process of identification;
an attempt to describe perceptual
data by means of a conscious
focus of the human mind.
To identify the ideal economic
system, one must observe and
understand what it (the system)
is, and what the object of
the system, man, is. Obviously
then, theory is not an object
(idea) detached from its subject
(man). If a theory is correctly
formulated, it is eminently
practical. After all, if theory
has nothing to do with reality,
i.e. cannot be "put into
practice", then how does one
evaluate whether it is good or
not?
Ideas are not separate and apart
from those who think them.
Actions are not distinct and
apart from those who act them
out. Actions are necessarily -
implementations of ideas.
Within this evaluative matrix,
one may defend capitalism on the
basis of its practicability, just
as long as one
remains aware that the
reason "it works" is
because it is good theory.
-------------------------------
| Home | Judicial | Human
Rights | Political | Discussion
| Links
|
| Official Correspondence | Oficial Correspondencia |
| Casa
| Judicial
| Derechos Humanos | Políticos | Discusión
| Conexiones
|
|
