Eric Daniels to Speak Bostonian
Find out if he will be pahking his cah in Hahvihd Yahd. My guess, probably not since he'll actually be at Tufts University giving his lecture:
The Morality of CapitalismI recently purchased Eric Daniels' entire lecture series on The History of America. I've only made it through part 1 (1607-1763) so far and from what I can tell Dr. Daniels is a great speaker, able to present the key events in a logical fashion. By presenting these historical events in their respective context he is able to explain the ideas that lead to them. Understood in this manner it is not hard to see how man is an integrated whole, mind and body, where actions follow from the ideas that give rise to them. I'm sure if there were philosophy classes in high school and those classes were teaching a rational basis of man's knowledge there would be more respect and a heightened interest in all other subject matter including history.
Who: Dr. Eric Daniels, speaker for the Ayn Rand Institute
What: A talk explaining why capitalism is the only moral social system
When: Monday, April 16, at 7:30 PM
Where: Tufts University, Barnum 104, 163 Packard Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
Admission is FREE.
Description: Despite the enormous success of American capitalism at producing material abundance and political freedom, critics continue their assault on the system, calling it immoral. In this lecture, Dr. Eric Daniels makes the case that capitalism is the only moral social system. He also examines the conventional defense of capitalism, which relies on the practical, economic argument, and illustrates why only a defense of pure laissez-faire capitalism can succeed.
Bio: Dr. Eric Daniels is a visiting scholar at Clemson University's Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He taught for five years at Duke University, in the Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace, and at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned his doctorate in American history. He has lectured internationally on the history of American ethics, American business and legal history, and the American Enlightenment. Daniels's publications include a chapter in "The Abolition of Antitrust" and five entries in the "Oxford Companion to United States History."
2 comments:
Of the limited information in the post about the substance of the idea, I have to agree with the premise.
Capitalism is truly a moral institution so long as individual integrity remains in tact - certainly this is its greatest flaw.
Capitalism allows individuals to succeed, to provide opportunities to others, and to offer the world innovations that come by competition.
Don't be so quick to denounce capitalism as if it is meant to instill man with an automatic moral character. As a socio-economic system based on a specific ethics it is the only system that recognizes man's unique attribute, his volitional consciousness. As a derivative, capitalism ensures the protection of individual rights from the use of force or fraud.
Since some individuals choose to use force on others don't fault capitalism, rather denounce those individuals as justice demands. In a fully capitalistic open society individuals will know if they wish to remain free they will observe the law because if they don't they will be punished. No moral system can force individuals to act morally. This is a contradiction of man's nature as a rational being.
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