What are the philosophical underpinnings of capitalism?
All political systems are ultimately the expression of some underlying philosophy. For example, Marxian socialism upholds that man is a collective entity shaped by economic forces beyond his control whose greatest good is to serve the ends of “society.” Capitalism, however, is implicitly based upon a world view which upholds that man’s mind is competent in dealing with reality, that it is morally good for each person to strive for his own happiness, and that the only proper social arrangement for men to live under is one in which the initiation of physical force is banished. This is the ideological basis upon which the United States of America was implicitly founded. The importance of recognizing the philosophy upon which capitalism — and America rests upon, lies in the fact that no social system can be properly understood or defended apart from its broader philosophical framework. In regards to morality, capitalism is the only moral (meaning pro-human-life) social system because it s
