giovedì 27 aprile 2017

Why Not Capitalism? by Jason F. Brennan

Why Not Capitalism? by Jason F. Brennan
You have 108 highlighted passages
You have 93 notes
Last annotated on April 27, 2017
in Joanna MT and Din by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk ContentsRead more at location 39
Note: una difesa del mercato in termini etici Edit
“Don’t concede the moral high ground.”Read more at location 58
a proper defense of markets has to be in the language of morality, not just the language of economics.Read more at location 58
Criticism usually proceeds either from moral or cultural disapprovalRead more at location 71
Deep Down, Everyone’s a Socialist … and Wrong OneRead more at location 75
Note: 1@@@@@@@@@@@@ Edit
CAPITALISM: NASTY THEORY, RIGHT SPECIES?Read more at location 78
Note: il tabù sulla parola socialismo il problema: ok il cap. funziona ma nn è etico: sfrutta e alimenta il ns egoismo smith mandeville rand: nn è x la benevolenza... il lamento: nn siamo abbastanza altruisti x il socialismo... da cui la critica: il socialismo ci chiede troppo tesi da confutare: l utopia è socialista... al socialismo serve l uomo nuovo l avversario: jerry cohen Edit
Note: t Edit
Michael Moore ends his film Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) with a catechism: “Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil. You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people, and that something is democracy.” By “democracy,” Moore means collective control of the means of production—that is, socialism.Read more at location 79
Note: DICIAMO DEMOCRAZIA E INTENDIAMO SOCIALISMO (PAROLA CADUTA IN DISGRAZIA) Edit
The term “socialism” appears on, but is buried deep within, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) 1 website, despite its repeated invections against the economic status quo and its vague call for “a new socio-political and economic alternative.”Read more at location 83
Note: c Edit
countries that tried socialism—the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, and North Korea—were hellholes.Read more at location 91
Note: L INFERNO DEL SOCIALISMO REALE Edit
Socialist governments murdered about 100 million (and perhaps many more) of their own citizens, making socialism about as lethal as the 14th-century Black Death.Read more at location 92
Note: 100M Edit
Note: IL 1300 HA AVUTO LA PESTE NERA. NOI IL SOCIALISMO Edit
capitalism has problems,Read more at location 95
socialism was a disaster.Read more at location 96
Yet, despite this, many people who oppose socialism and support markets find capitalism morally uninspiring. Sure, capitalism performs better than socialism. But, we worry, that is just because we are so selfish.Read more at location 97
Note: CAPITALISMO: SCARSO APOEAL MORALE Edit
Note: FUNZIONA BENE SOLO XCHÈ NOI SIAMO DEI DISGRAZIATI Edit
But many people worry this just shows we are not altruistic enough for socialism.Read more at location 101
Note: NN SIAMO ABBASTANZA BUONI X IL SOCIALISMO Edit
Socialism asks us to supply benevolent philosopher-kings, but the best we can come up with is a Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot. It seems the problem is with us. Since we are selfish, greedy, and fearful, maybe market-based economies are the best we can do.Read more at location 103
Note: COLPA DI STALIN E MAO. NN DEL SOCIALISMO Edit
Utopia is socialist.Read more at location 106
Even capitalism’s greatest defenders seem to agree. Adam Smith tells us, “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.Read more at location 106
Note: E MOLTI CAPITALISTI SI ACCODANO. ES SMITH Edit
Bernard Mandeville, in his famous poem “The Grumbling Hive,” says capitalism runs on vice much like biodiesel engines run on food waste.Read more at location 109
Note: MANDEVILLE SI ACCODA Edit
Finally, there’s Ayn Rand, “Goddess of the Market,” 7 who defends capitalism by arguing that selfishness is a virtue and altruism is evil. 8Read more at location 115
Note: BUONA ULTIMA LA RAND Edit
Socialism seems to answer to a higher moral calling. Perhaps the best evidence of this is that socialists so often defend their view in moral terms,Read more at location 118
Note: OPINIONE COMUNE? DEL SOCIALISMO SALVIAMO LA MORALITÀ Edit
The problem with socialism thus seems to be that it asks too much of us—it asks us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to share, and to never take advantage of power.Read more at location 120
Note: IL PROB DEL S? CI CHIEDE TROPPO. DOBBIAMO ESSERNE ALL ALTEZZA Edit
Socialism says, “All for one and one for all.” But we’re more comfortable with something like, “Every man for himself.”Read more at location 122
Note: IL NS MOTTO Edit
“Wonderful theory, wrong species.”Read more at location 123
SO, WHY NOT SOCIALISM?Read more at location 125
Note: tesi di molti: il mercato è un compromesso pragmatico Edit
Note: t Edit
you probably accept the view just described: That markets are a kind of moral compromise, and that if we could harness the best within us, we would dispense with capitalism.Read more at location 126
Note: IL MERCATO? UN TRISTE MA NECESSARIO COMPROMESSO Edit
The best spokesperson of this widely shared view is the philosopher G. A. (“Jerry”) Cohen.Read more at location 128
Note: IL PROTAGONISTA DI QS VISIONE Edit
Capitalism has countless critics, but Cohen is perhaps its best moral critic.Read more at location 130
Note: CRITICA MORALE AL CAPITALISMO Edit
I debate Cohen in order to undermine the widespread belief that socialism is morally superior to capitalism.Read more at location 131
Note: TESI: IL CAP È MORALMENTE SUPERIORE Edit
only socialism can be just.Read more at location 134
Cohen’s book contains a simple but powerful thought experimentRead more at location 143
“Wonderful theory, wrong species” is to damn humanity, not socialism.Read more at location 145
Note: LA TESI DI COHEN Edit
THE CAMPING TRIP ARGUMENT FOR SOCIALISMRead more at location 147
Note: niente dialettica niente postmodernismo solo una vacanza in campeggio i campeggiatori vivono in un socialismo reale... immagina se vivessero in modo capitalistico Edit
Note: t Edit
Unlike many Marxists, he doesn’t rely on convoluted dialectics or postmodernist piffle.Read more at location 149
Note: IL BUONO DI COHEN: SEMPLICE Edit
he just wants you to imagine a camping trip.Read more at location 149
Note: ESPEIMENTO MENTALE Edit
Cohen first has us imagine a camping trip among friends. Everyone wants everyone to have a great time. When the campers bring their equipment to the campsite, they stop asserting ownership rights over their stuff, and instead treat everything as a common bounty.Read more at location 154
Note: c Edit
Note: PENSATE AD UN CAMPEGGIO: TRA BUONI AMICI SI METTE TUTTO IN COMUNE Edit
The campers maintain a perfect community of perfect equality.Read more at location 157
Note: c Edit
campers are living by socialist principles.Read more at location 158
Note: c Edit
Now, Cohen says, imagine what the camping trip would look like if the campers began to act like people do in real-life capitalism. Imagine Harry demands better food because he is good at fishing. He refuses to put his skills to use unless he gets the best fish. Sylvia demands privileges after she finds an apple tree in the woods. She refuses to share unless she gets a break from the communal chores. Leslie demands extra payment for her special knowledge of how to crack nuts. Morgan, whose father left him a well-stocked pond 30 years ago, gloats over having more food than the others.Read more at location 160
Note: IL CAMPEGGIO INFORMATO AI PRINCIPI CAPITALISTI. UN DISASTRO Edit
these repugnant behaviors are just what we see in real-life capitalist societies.Read more at location 171
Note: IL CAPITALISMO IN FONDO CI RIPUGNA Edit
The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Argument for Capitalism: A Parody TwoRead more at location 368
Note: il cap. è una parodia e parafrasi di choen... anzichè il campeggio il mmc la trsmissione tv 1 MM CLUBHOSE tutti hanno i loro obiettivi ma tutti si aiutano se in difficoltà immagina una versione del mmc in cui i diritti vengono accentrati nelle mani di un gov. socialista che stabilisce che fare e chiede obbedienza... chi farebbe vedere un simile show a dei bambini? ciò dimostra che tutti noi abbiamo dentro l ideale capitalistico come ideale primario 2 L IDEALE È DESIDERABILE? 3 L IDEALE È FATTIBILE COSA OSTA? Edit
Note: 2@@@@@@@@@@@@ Edit
A NOTE TO READERSRead more at location 371
I will follow Cohen’s style of argument, but instead substitute the imaginary village from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to argue that capitalism is better than socialism.Read more at location 377
Note: CONTROESPERIMENTO MMC Edit
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a contemporary CGI cartoonRead more at location 379
WHY NOT CAPITALISM?Read more at location 388
Note: t Edit
THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE VILLAGERead more at location 399
Note: t Edit
Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Clarabelle Cow, Pete (defined as a cat), and Professor Ludwig Von Drake, and many other characters, live together in a village. There is no hierarchy among them. 2 They have separate goals and projects, but also share common aims, such as the goal that each of them should have a fulfilling lifeRead more at location 399
Note: MMC BUONI AMICI MA CON INTERESSI DIVERSI Edit
Note: E UN MINIMO COMUNE MULTIPLO Edit
For example, there are communal spaces, such as amphitheaters, racetracks, obstacles courses, and parks.Read more at location 404
Note: SPAZI COMUNI Edit
There are also privately owned spaces and things. Mickey Mouse owns a clubhouse that he shares with his friends. Minnie owns and runs a “Bowtique,” a hair-bow factory and store. Clarabelle Cow owns and runs a “Moo Mart” sundries store and a “Moo Muffin” factory. Donald Duck and Willie the Giant own farms. Professor Von Drake owns various inventions, including a time machine and a nanotech machine that can manufacture “mouskatools” on command.Read more at location 406
Note: OGNUNO HA LA SUA ATTIVITÀ Edit
Everyone works hardRead more at location 412
pursue his or her vision of the goodRead more at location 413
villagers are extremely kind.Read more at location 414
There is no violence or any threats of violence—force is not necessary to maintain social order.Read more at location 414
Note: MASSIMA ARMONIA. NESSUNA COERCIZIONE Edit
Village life is not all about work! The villagers spend much of their time having fun. They enjoy lightly competitive or non-competitive games, going on adventures, and producing art and music. Sometimes they do these activities alone, sometimes together in small groups, and sometimes with everyone as a whole.Read more at location 415
Note: NON C È SOLO IL LAVORO MA ANCHE IL DIVERT Edit
When bad luck strikes—e.g., when some baby ducks must be taught to fly, or when a baby dragon is lost, or when the Tick Tock Time Machine accidentally turns half the villagers into babies, or when a Gooey Goo spill creates five copies of Goofy—the villagers happily come together as a team to solve the problem, making use of their different skills and abilities.Read more at location 418
Note: CI SI AIUTA Edit
Everyone operates on principles of mutual concern, tolerance, and respect.Read more at location 422
Note: PRINCIPI Edit
You could imagine instead a version of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Village in which—as in socialism—the collective (or its representative, the socialist government) asserts its rights over all pieces of land or equipment, or over everyone’s bodies, minds, and talents. 3 You could imagine that the collective or the socialist government decides who will be allowed, for example, to use the hot-air balloons, or what color bows Minnie will make,Read more at location 424
Note: IMMAGINA UN GOVERNO SOCIALISTA DEL MMC Edit
Now, most people would hate that. We probably wouldn’t let our children watch that kind of show.Read more at location 430
Note: ORA NN È IL SOCIALISMO AD ESSERE RIPUGNANTE? Edit
And this means that most people are drawn to the capitalist ideal, at least in certain restricted settings.Read more at location 433
Note: ORA È IL CAPITALISMO A SEMBRARCI NATURALE Edit
the best way to run a village,Read more at location 476
Note: COSA È MEGLIO X LA CITTÀ DEI BUONI? Edit
II THE PRINCIPLES REALIZED IN THE CLUBHOUSE VILLAGERead more at location 484
Note: t Edit
The moral principles realized in the Clubhouse Village include the principle of voluntary community, the principle of mutual respect, the principle of reciprocity, the principle of social justice, and the principle of beneficence.Read more at location 485
Note: PERCHÈ IL CAP È SUP? PERCHE RICOMPRENDE IL SOC E LO ECCEDE Edit
Part of what it means to have mutual respect is to believe that every individual matters as an end in herself.Read more at location 513
Note: IL RISPETTO È RISPETTO X LA DIVERSITÀ Edit
In the USSR, Venezuela, or Cuba, cooperation is based largely on greed and fear. A person does not care fundamentally, within socialist interaction, about how well or badly anyone other than herself fares.Read more at location 574
Note: LA COOPERAZIONE COERCITIVA DEL SOCIALISMO EQUIVALE A QUELLA VOLONTARIA? Edit
III IS THE IDEAL DESIRABLE?Read more at location 580
Note: t Edit
many others would instead say that while it is all right for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Village to be run on capitalist lines, there are features special to the Clubhouse Village that distinguish it from the normal life in a modern society and that consequently cast doubt on the desirability and/or feasibility of realizing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse principles in a modern society.Read more at location 591
Note: OB. MA IL MMC È UTOPIA Edit
one cannot be friends with the billions of people who compose our large international society;Read more at location 607
IV IS THE IDEAL FEASIBLE? ARE THE OBSTACLES TO IT HUMAN SELFISHNESS, OR POOR SOCIAL TECHNOLOGYRead more at location 612
Note: t Edit
The idea is that the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Village is a small village, inhabited by unusually virtuous characters, removed from the complexities of everyday life.Read more at location 616
Note: TROPPO VIRTUOSI GLI AMICI DI TOPOLINO Edit
The first putative reason why capitalism is infeasible is that people, so it is often said, are insufficiently cooperative, generous, tolerant, and respectful to meet its requirements, however cooperative, generous, tolerant, and respectful they might be in contexts as special and limited as the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Village.Read more at location 623
Note: LA NATURA UMANA IMPEDISCE DI REALIZZARE MMC Edit
Yet many political scientists say that once we move past the confines of a small village, like the Clubhouse Village, we cannot make do without a powerful central authority, which maintains a powerful police force and military, imposes rules through commands, backs up these commands through violence and threats of violence, and that maintains a monopoly on the use of violence as a method of social control.Read more at location 649
Note: MA C È ANCHE UN PROBLEMA ORGANIZZATIVO: COME CI SI COORDINA SU LARGA SCALA? Edit
Michael Huemer,Read more at location 667
The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey.Read more at location 668
Robert NozickRead more at location 675
Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974))Read more at location 676
John TomasiRead more at location 676
Market Fairness (2008)).Read more at location 676
minimal-StateRead more at location 682
there is always a moral failingRead more at location 683
Perhaps in the distant future, with advances in human moral motivation and social technology, the principles of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Village could be realized.Read more at location 691
Note: FORSE DOMANI L ANARCO CAPITALISMO SI REALIZZERÀ Edit
V CODARead more at location 712
Note: t Edit
Human Nature and Justice ThreeRead more at location 728
Note: 3@@@@@@@@@@@ Edit
G. A. Cohen contends that we should not rest content with what we have. We can envision a better world free of oppression. We should strive to achieve that vision, if we can. I agree.Read more at location 731
Note: COHEN: NN ACCONTENTIAMOCI Edit
Capitalism is not just better than socialism from an economic point of view, but inherently better from a moral point of view.Read more at location 734
Note: CHI VUOLE UN UTOPIA PUNTI SULL ANARCO CAPITALUSMO Edit
even if everyone were morally perfect, capitalism would still be preferable to socialism.Read more at location 743
Note: LA SOCIETÀ DEI VIRTUOSI Edit
NOT THE ISSUE: DOES HUMAN NATURE IMPOSE LIMITS ON JUSTICE?Read more at location 744
Note: t Edit
THE COHEN FALLACY: COMPARING IDEAL TO REALRead more at location 886
Note: t Edit
WHAT IS UTOPIA?Read more at location 1068
Note: t Edit
Imagine a world much like ours, but with one big difference: in this parallel world, everyone is morally perfect.Read more at location 1068
Note: LA GERUSAMEMME CELESTE Edit
Cohen’s question is: What principles would people live by, and what institutions would they live under, if only people had perfect moral motivation? For Cohen, a theory of justice and of just institutions is a theory of ideals.Read more at location 1072
Note: COME GOVERNARLA? Edit
Note: SI PARTE DALL IDEALE E CI SI AVVICINA Edit
Some philosophers think there is no point asking Cohen’s question. They say the answer might provide us with little practical advice about what to do here and now.Read more at location 1075
Note: C È CHI DIFFIDA DELLE UTOPIE. COSTORO SCARTANO IL SOCIALISMO. MA NOI ACCFETTIAMO LA BUSSOLA DELL UTOPIA Edit
IS UTOPIAN CAPITALISM AN OXYMORON?Read more at location 1095
Note: t Edit
When I first read Cohen’s Why Not Socialism?, I realized that the essential flaw was that he was not comparing like to like. I recognized that he argued for the inherent moral superiority of socialism by comparing idealized socialism to realistic capitalism,Read more at location 1095
Note: L ERRORE DI COHEN: COMPARARE IL SOC IDEALIZZATO CON IL CAP REALE Edit
a kind of cheating,Read more at location 1098
Arguments for capitalism, private property, and market economies often rely upon the idea that these institutions are a response to human failings, and that under utopian conditions, we would have no need of them.Read more at location 1102
Note: ORTODOSSIA: IL CAP MINORE DEI MALI Edit
David Hume—himselfRead more at location 1104
More recently, Schmidtz has argued, in his “The Institution of Property,” 4 that private property is justified in order to ensure that people maintain rather than destroy resources. Private property prevents what ecologist Garrett Hardin calls the “tragedy of the commons.”Read more at location 1121
Note: CAP: EVITA IL TRAGEDY OF COMMONS Edit
And so, again, Cohen concludes that private property and markets are merely useful social technology in light of human vice.Read more at location 1135
Note: CAP UTILE AL VIZIO Edit
I noticed that the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse presented the capitalist ideal: a voluntaryist, anarchist, non-violent, respectful, loving, cooperative society.Read more at location 1140
Note: IL CAP IDEALE Edit
PRIVATE PROPERTY IN UTOPIARead more at location 1179
Note: t Edit
The Clubhouse Villagers are close enough to morally perfect (and their society was small enough) that they could dispense entirely with private property. Many of the instrumental justifications for markets and private property do not apply to them. Nevertheless, even though the villagers are even more virtuous than Cohen’s socialist campers, the villagers have private property in the means of production. They have privately owned stores, farms and factories. And, in watching the show, I saw that it makes sense that they would have private property and markets, even if, strictly speaking, they don’t need to do so.Read more at location 1180
Note: LA PP È UTILE ANCHE NELLA GERUSALEMME CELESTE Edit
Private property makes their lives better. The best way to see that it makes sense is just to watch the show, and see if you have any moral complaint against their capitalist activities.Read more at location 1186
Note: c Edit
The philosopher Loren Lomasky points out that people (and by extension people-like mice, ducks, and giants) are project-pursuers. They have ideas and visions that they want to implement. Pursuing projects over the long term is often part (if not the only part) of what gives coherence and meaning to our lives.Read more at location 1191
Note: ABBIAMO DEI NS PIANI DI VITA. SIAMO DIVERSI NN C È NULLA DI MALE Edit
Willie the Giant wants to farm. In an imaginary ideal socialist economy, the nice socialists would no doubt let Willie plow the collectively owned fields with the collectively owned plow. But that’s not good enough. Willie wants a farm that he can shape according to his vision.Read more at location 1204
Note: ESEMPIO DI WILLIE Edit
Another closely related reason for having private property, even in utopia, has to do with the sheer aggravation of always having to ask permission.Read more at location 1217
Note: L UMILIAZIONE DI CHIEDERE PERMESSO Edit
People have a need to feel “at home” in the world.Read more at location 1224
Note: A CASA Edit
The important point is that most of us need both—we need at times to participate in a larger community, and we need at times to escape to our private ventures and spaces. Without private property, we cannot do the latter.Read more at location 1229
Note: COMUNITÀ E PRIVATO Edit
We form relationships with some objects, with some of the things we own, with the books we write, with the artwork our children make us, and so on.Read more at location 1243
Note: RELAZIONI E IDENTITÀ Edit
There is another reason for private property, when we try to practice utopia on a grand scale: The limits of our knowledge. We have imperfect information.Read more at location 1253
Note: PROPRIETÁ E INFO Edit
I don’t know enough about other people, what their needs and desires are, or how different objects fit into their plans or projects.Read more at location 1257
Note: c NN CONOSCO VGLI ALTRI. ANCHE SE SONO BUONO Edit