Free Example of Discussion on Capitalism Essay

There are different social and economic systems and structures that have been developed in the history of humanity. These systems and structures have shaped the perception towards life and the overall existence of human being in the society with regard to economic and social dimensions. One of these systems is capitalism which can be defined as an economic system or structure whose means of production are owned privately. In other words, the government plays little role or rather has no autonomy on the overall means of production. In reference to Younkins (2007), there are different perceptions or rather approaches that have been employed in history towards capitalism (p.232).

To begin with, Rand (1957) perceives capitalism as the only moral system or rather structure that has ever existed in the lives of human beings (p.315). In line with this, his perceptions are reflected in his arguments that capitalism has the ability to defend the lives of human beings since it is geared towards protecting the means of survival i.e. the production means. In addition, the values and actions of man cannot in any way be alienated from his thinking process under the capitalist society. In other words, his arguments are based on the fact that in order for human beings to exist and thrive in a mutual way, they need a realistic economic and social system that will enable them to exercise their freedom and ideas in the society. As a result of this, the approach by Ayn Rand towards capitalism is based on the fact that capitalism is a realistic economic and social system.

Irrespective of the arguments that have been presented by Ayn Rand, there have been arguments by defenders of capitalism that this social and economic moral system need to shun away from following the philanthropic premise in order for it to achieve its purposes in the society (Rand, 1957, p.158). For instance, John Galt argued that the philanthropic approach to capitalism was a means of destroying the social foundations of the world. This is reiterated in the conversation on why it was important for Philip to be hired since the alms he received had degraded him into becoming a lesser being (Rand, 158). In this respect, the world or rather defenders of capitalism approached this issue in such a way that the concepts of capitalism were alleviated from the spiritual and emotional well being of a person. In this regard, these defenders focused on how much profits could be made without realizing the need by individual to alleviate their spiritual and emotional standards came were considered as some of the benefits of human capitalism by Ayn Rand.

Following this point, the defenders of capitalism have focused more on the profits that were made under a capitalist system since the government was limited in such a way that it was not able to interfere with the means of productions. Stated in other words, the running of business activities or rather productions activities was conducted in such a way that the government had no power to interfere but rather let these activities to run in a laissez faire manner (Rand, 1957, p.160).

In this regard therefore, the perception towards capitalism in the society as was perceived by Ayn Rand varies from the defenders of capitalism in the sense that there is an integration of moral standards in the arguments of Rand. These moral standards are avoided in the arguments that have been presented by the defenders of capitalism who have focused more on the means of production and the profit that is obtained when employing these means.