Summary: Can Capitalism Lead To Human Happiness?

Issue 1, titled “Can Capitalism Lead to Human Happiness?” contains arguments from three critical philosophical thinkers of the philosophical world, namely Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Simplified further, the issue stands as a comparative between which economic system is better equipped to provide the most happiness to the people, is it capitalism or communism? Capitalism goes by many names – liberal market economy and a free enterprise system. The word private becomes extremely vital in differentiating the two economic systems. Capitalism suggests that production and distribution of services are privately owned for private profit. All decisions are made by private entities rather than the government. Adam Smith, author of An
Marx argues that wealth in the hands of the fortunate lay waste and bares no profit to the nation as a whole. He suggests that proper and equal distribution of wealth will not only increase the morale of the labor force that helps the capitalist create the wealth but transforms a parochial into a consumer. (Someone who becomes an integral part of the society which he helps create) Smith answers the earlier statement in a manner that any business owner would; with a question. Shouldn’t he who takes risks be entitled to the reward? Simply said, what motivation would a business owner have of risking his wealth (new or old) if in the end, he would have to share the fruits of his risk with those who didn’t take any risk? Furthermore, entitlement gives a term to the act of sowing and reaping. Smith’s scope of audience is limited, the article suggests. In a world where technology changes developing nations into hyper developed nation states, monopolies are harder to control. The article suggests that Smith’s audience were owners who were too small to reshape the economies of