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Capitalism and the Good Society: The Original Case for and Against Commerce

In: Standard of Living

Author

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  • Daniel Cullen

    (Rhodes College)

Abstract

The contemporary debate over the morality of capitalism would benefit from attention to eighteenth-century philosophical arguments for and against commercial life. Well before Karl Marx, Jean-Jacques Rousseau condemned the emerging commercial society as incompatible with equality, freedom, and virtue. And well before Milton Friedman, Adam Smith defended commerce as a system of natural liberty that indeed fostered considerable inequality but only in the course of dramatically improving the condition of the poor. Smith shared many of Rousseau’s concerns about the negative effects of commerce and directly addressed them in his major works. Smith concluded that the benefits of commercial life outweighed the risks and contributed substantially to human progress—a possibility Rousseau vigorously denied.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Cullen, 2022. "Capitalism and the Good Society: The Original Case for and Against Commerce," Studies in Economic History, in: Patrick Gray & Joshua Hall & Ruth Wallis Herndon & Javier Silvestre (ed.), Standard of Living, chapter 0, pages 451-463, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:stechp:978-3-031-06477-7_20
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-06477-7_20
    as

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