Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal
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Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal is one of Ayn Rand's non-fiction work, a collection of essays regarding the moral nature of laissez-faire capitalism and private property. The essay has a very specific definition of capitalism, a system it regards as broader than simply property rights or free enterprise. It was originally published in 1966. Most of the essays originally appeared in The Objectivist Newsletter or The Objectivist. It includes chapters by Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan and Robert Hessen.
[edit] Synopsis
- Capitalism is the only system geared to the life of a rational being and the only moral politico-econonomic system in history -- A. Rand
- [Statists] seem to sense that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument of laissez-faire and that each implies and requires the other -- A. Greenspan.
Ayn Rand applies her philosophy of Objectivism to the subject of capitalism. When Rand talks of capitalism, she means laissez-faire capitalism, in which there is a complete separation of state and economics "in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of church and state." What follows are the main points made by the book.
- Humans as Rational Beings
- Where animals are guided by instinct to survive, humans survive by using reason. Only through reason can humans build a shelter, make weapons for hunting, preserve food for future needs, etc.
Value of an object :
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- See article on value
- Rand holds that capitalism is based on the objectivist theory of value. The value of an object is a combination of Reason and Labor. A rock is just a lump of chemicals. But in the hands of a human, a rock could be useful as a weapon. But the human had to first conceive of the rock as a weapon. Furthermore, a rock with a sharp edge would be even more useful. In order to sharpen the stone, the human must first, through reason, discover that a sharp edge is useful, and then by applying labor, actually sharpen the stone. This is how value is created.
- Right to Life
- In its most basic form, the right to life (as understood by Rand) is the right of each human to do any and all activities that are necessary to sustain your own life; but your right to life can never deny another human's right to life. Rand views humans as independent beings, each freely expending their own time and reason to sustain their own life.
- Private Property
- Time is finite. No human has indefinite time available. To produce an object, a human spends some of his finite time. It is the act of spending time into an object, that makes that object property. Take the case of an arrowhead: To a cat, a piece of flint is just a rock lying on the ground. But a human takes the flint, and using time and reason shapes the flint into an arrowhead. The arrowhead is valuable for survival. Because the human spent of his own time in making the arrowhead, and because the time spent cannot be replaced ever, that arrowhead now belongs to that human.
- Free Trade
- Most humans cannot produce everything they require for living. Skill levels vary from human to human. One human may be better at shaping flint into arrowheads. Another may have acquired the skill to turn mud into pottery. If the first wants a pot to cook in, he may trade an arrowhead for a pot. The central feature of free trade is that each participant feels they have traded higher value for less value. The arrowhead is not very useful for cooking, so the first human feels he obtained a more valuable object. Conversely, the second human will have a hard time hunting buffalo with a piece of pottery, so to him the arrowhead is more useful than a pot.
- Capitalism
- As understood by Rand, capitalism is the system that emerges among a group of free individuals, each applying time and reason to sustain their own life, each the owner of the means to do so, freely trading among themselves.
Rand regarded the mixed economy as a dangerous and unstable combination of freedom and controls in which there is a tendency to move towards statism.
[edit] See also
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| Fiction: Night of January 16th • We the Living • Anthem • The Fountainhead • Atlas Shrugged
Non-fiction: For the New Intellectual • The Virtue of Selfishness • Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal • Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology • The Romantic Manifesto • Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution • Philosophy: Who Needs It |
