“This does not mean that capitalism is bad because capitalism is not conceptually tied to selfishness. The question of which system of economic ownership we ought to have is entirely separate to the question of which ethos we ought to follow.”
This is almost solipsistic—it sounds like you’re denying that a complex social world exists out there with powerful and entrenched system of causation. Only for the most remote, cerebral idealist are these two things possibly separate. What’s the point of this kind of philosophy?
I’m not making a claim about what capitalism causally produces. I think that is fairly clear from the fact that I say that I am making a conceptual distinction. These are separate questions:
Capitalism is defined as a system in which people are selfish.
Capitalism causally makes people more selfish than socialism.
Capitalism is all-things-considered the best system.
I am arguing for 1, and saying that we need different information to evaluate its truth to both 2 and 3. I’m not denying anything about social systems causing different motivations in people; it is obviously true that they do.
The point: you don’t get to argue against capitalism by suggesting that it is all about selfishness, as a conceptual matter. Rather, you’d need to show that it makes people more selfish than socialism does or that it produces less good outcomes overall than socialism. So, you’d need to present empirical evidence.
“This does not mean that capitalism is bad because capitalism is not conceptually tied to selfishness. The question of which system of economic ownership we ought to have is entirely separate to the question of which ethos we ought to follow.”
This is almost solipsistic—it sounds like you’re denying that a complex social world exists out there with powerful and entrenched system of causation. Only for the most remote, cerebral idealist are these two things possibly separate. What’s the point of this kind of philosophy?
I’m not making a claim about what capitalism causally produces. I think that is fairly clear from the fact that I say that I am making a conceptual distinction. These are separate questions:
Capitalism is defined as a system in which people are selfish.
Capitalism causally makes people more selfish than socialism.
Capitalism is all-things-considered the best system.
I am arguing for 1, and saying that we need different information to evaluate its truth to both 2 and 3. I’m not denying anything about social systems causing different motivations in people; it is obviously true that they do.
The point: you don’t get to argue against capitalism by suggesting that it is all about selfishness, as a conceptual matter. Rather, you’d need to show that it makes people more selfish than socialism does or that it produces less good outcomes overall than socialism. So, you’d need to present empirical evidence.