{"id":687,"date":"2025-03-13T18:56:36","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T18:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/chapter\/7-4-2-the-capitalists-argument\/"},"modified":"2025-04-02T21:42:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:42:15","slug":"7-4-2-the-capitalists-argument","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/chapter\/7-4-2-the-capitalists-argument\/","title":{"raw":"7.3.2 The Capitalists\u2019 Argument","rendered":"7.3.2 The Capitalists\u2019 Argument"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n

The second argument\u00a0for Ethical Egoism is an argument that you have probably heard before. It is commonly used in defense of cutting government social spending, privatizing governmental institutions and getting rid of welfare programs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n

The \"capitalists' argument\" goes like so:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n
    \r\n \t
  • If we help others, we are undermining competition and all the good that competition produces.<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Market forces, what Adam Smith called \u201cthe invisible hand\u201d of free markets, act in such a way as to determine the best possible distribution of social goods.<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Therefore, interfering with such forces may seem to be benevolent, but in the end, it will only lead to some people taking advantage of benevolence and everybody losing out from the loss of the benefits of competition.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

    Assessment of the Capitalists\u2019 Argument<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

    So, what then\u00a0about the capitalist\u2019s argument that we should practice \u201ctough love,\u201d and not help others to encourage them to help themselves? In certain situations, this seems like the best way to get the best outcome for all of us \u2013 if I run a business in a competitive industry, I will be forced by market forces to produce the best products for prices that people will want to pay, and that make me enough of a profit to want to stay in business. I want what is best for me \u2013 profits \u2013 and my customers want what is best for them \u2013 products that are of acceptable quality and cost for their needs. So selfish individual behavior can lead to an overall outcome that is best for all of us. So far so good. There are two problems, however, with this argument. The first is that competition is not always the best way of producing the best outcome for all involved. In some industries competition helps both the producer and the consumer \u2013 competition forces the producer to keep prices lower and quality higher. But is this the case in all markets? What about, for example, health care? If we opened health care to free competition this would mean that hospitals and other health care providers would be offering a service to consumers for the sake of making profits. If the consumer was dissatisfied with the services offered, she could just go elsewhere next time, and this would encourage health care providers to lower prices and increase the quality of their services. This all sounds good, until we realize that there is something very different between consumer goods and health care services. When I am sick, I often do not have the time or the ability to shop around for the best health care \u2013 I need help now. And if I am not satisfied with the poor services offered to me at one hospital as treatment for my illness, I may not get the chance to go elsewhere next time, since there may be no next time. So, and this is a technical point that probably needs much more development to be thoroughly convincing, not all social institutions would benefit from being opened to competition, even if in certain cases competition is beneficial.<\/p>\r\n

    There is, however,\u00a0a deeper problem with the capitalist\u2019s argument for egoism. Granted that at times competition for selfish gain leads to a better outcome for all of us, we may wonder why an egoist \u2013 someone who claims that selfishness is acceptable \u2013 even cares about the good of everyone. If we are defending egoism, doesn\u2019t it seem strange to base our argument on a concern for others? Can we even really be defending selfishness in this way? If we claim that selfish behavior can produce good outcomes for all of us, then we are putting our selfish impulses to work for society and not subordinating social concerns to selfish concerns. So, calling this argument an argument for egoism is really incoherent, it makes no sense to be claiming that we should always be selfish because that is the way to ensure that everyone benefits.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"

    \n

    The second argument\u00a0for Ethical Egoism is an argument that you have probably heard before. It is commonly used in defense of cutting government social spending, privatizing governmental institutions and getting rid of welfare programs.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \n

    The “capitalists’ argument” goes like so:<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

    \n
      \n
    • If we help others, we are undermining competition and all the good that competition produces.<\/li>\n
    • Market forces, what Adam Smith called \u201cthe invisible hand\u201d of free markets, act in such a way as to determine the best possible distribution of social goods.<\/li>\n
    • Therefore, interfering with such forces may seem to be benevolent, but in the end, it will only lead to some people taking advantage of benevolence and everybody losing out from the loss of the benefits of competition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      Assessment of the Capitalists\u2019 Argument<\/strong><\/h2>\n

      So, what then\u00a0about the capitalist\u2019s argument that we should practice \u201ctough love,\u201d and not help others to encourage them to help themselves? In certain situations, this seems like the best way to get the best outcome for all of us \u2013 if I run a business in a competitive industry, I will be forced by market forces to produce the best products for prices that people will want to pay, and that make me enough of a profit to want to stay in business. I want what is best for me \u2013 profits \u2013 and my customers want what is best for them \u2013 products that are of acceptable quality and cost for their needs. So selfish individual behavior can lead to an overall outcome that is best for all of us. So far so good. There are two problems, however, with this argument. The first is that competition is not always the best way of producing the best outcome for all involved. In some industries competition helps both the producer and the consumer \u2013 competition forces the producer to keep prices lower and quality higher. But is this the case in all markets? What about, for example, health care? If we opened health care to free competition this would mean that hospitals and other health care providers would be offering a service to consumers for the sake of making profits. If the consumer was dissatisfied with the services offered, she could just go elsewhere next time, and this would encourage health care providers to lower prices and increase the quality of their services. This all sounds good, until we realize that there is something very different between consumer goods and health care services. When I am sick, I often do not have the time or the ability to shop around for the best health care \u2013 I need help now. And if I am not satisfied with the poor services offered to me at one hospital as treatment for my illness, I may not get the chance to go elsewhere next time, since there may be no next time. So, and this is a technical point that probably needs much more development to be thoroughly convincing, not all social institutions would benefit from being opened to competition, even if in certain cases competition is beneficial.<\/p>\n

      There is, however,\u00a0a deeper problem with the capitalist\u2019s argument for egoism. Granted that at times competition for selfish gain leads to a better outcome for all of us, we may wonder why an egoist \u2013 someone who claims that selfishness is acceptable \u2013 even cares about the good of everyone. If we are defending egoism, doesn\u2019t it seem strange to base our argument on a concern for others? Can we even really be defending selfishness in this way? If we claim that selfish behavior can produce good outcomes for all of us, then we are putting our selfish impulses to work for society and not subordinating social concerns to selfish concerns. So, calling this argument an argument for egoism is really incoherent, it makes no sense to be claiming that we should always be selfish because that is the way to ensure that everyone benefits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"menu_order":21,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-687","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":903,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1286,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/687\/revisions\/1286"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/903"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/687\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=687"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=687"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}