Cooperation and Excellence
eBook - PDF

Cooperation and Excellence

A Premodern Case for Capitalism

  1. 245 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Cooperation and Excellence

A Premodern Case for Capitalism

About this book

This book offers a distinctive moral defense of capitalism. Unlike most such defenses, this book avoids the summoning of concepts and ideas drawn from the modern philosophical tradition that arose out of the 17th–18th century Enlightenment. It rejects the idea of supporting capitalism on the grounds of self-ownership, human dignity, property rights, social utility, or a social contract. Confidence in the power of human reason to demonstrate any of these notions has waned since the Enlightenment, and justifiably so. Capitalism stands in desperate need of different philosophic foundations. This book's thesis is that capitalism can be more sturdily defended on a pre-modern basis. Adopting the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero as a guide, this book acknowledges the limits of human reason. It applies the ancient skepticism that Cicero represents, a school of thought that teaches us to be content with probabilities and to focus upon the practical dimensions of human existence. Philosophical inquiry is best directed to the task of identifying the means of securing both life and the good life for human beings. As such, this book stresses the overriding importance of maintaining social co-operation and advancing human excellence. It argues that capitalism satisfies both these imperatives.

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Yes, you can access Cooperation and Excellence by George Bragues in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politik & Internationale Beziehungen & Business allgemein. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. Introduction: Why Pro-Capitalists Need to Think Pre-Modern
  4. Chapter One: Why Modern Ideas Leave Capitalism Exposed
  5. Chapter Two: The Social Cooperation Directive
  6. Chapter Three: The Ciceronian Theory of Justice
  7. Chapter Four: Capitalism Cannot Be Secular
  8. Chapter Five: A Constitution that Opens the Way to Capitalism
  9. Chapter Six: How a Redistributive State Jeopardizes Social Cooperation
  10. Chapter Seven: Pursuing Human Excellence under Capitalism
  11. Conclusion: From Utter Skepticism to Probalistic Contrarianism
  12. Bibliography
  13. Index
  14. About the Author