Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 36 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Life Arts    H3'ed 12/27/12

Gary Gutting on the Skidelskys' Views of Capitalism

By       (Page 2 of 4 pages) Become a premium member to see this article and all articles as one long page.   4 comments
Message Thomas Farrell
Become a Fan
  (22 fans)

As to the pursuit of happiness, Plato and Aristotle do not happen to work explicitly with this felicitous expression. Nevertheless, their way of thinking about virtue as the mean between the extremes of over-doing something and under-doing it seems to hint that we should avoid insatiable pursuits because by definition we would be over-doing whatever our pursuit is.

 

It remains then for us to figure out a way of thinking about happiness so that our pursuit of happiness does not become an insatiable pursuit, but a manageable pursuit that can be reasonably satiated.

 

But Plato and Aristotle did not live in our American capitalist economy, which appears to be based on a kind of economic insatiability. In his perceptive review essay in COMMONWEAL MAGAZINE online ("Less, Please: Capitalism and the Good Life") about Robert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky's book HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? (2012), Gary Gutting, who holds the Notre Endowed Chair in Philosophy and who writes columns occasionally in the New York Times, sums up the Skidelskys' view of the economic insatiability of capitalism as involving "the intrinsic drive for increasing production (and therefore profits) without limit."

 

In the Skidelskys' view of capitalism, we Americans today are little cogs in the big capitalist economy, which seems to favor the 1% at the top more than the 99%.

 

For the sake of discussion, I will go along with the Skidelskys' characterization of capitalism as involving economic insatiability. In the short-term, the capitalist economy does drive toward increasing production and profits. However, as everybody knows, in the long-term, entire businesses come and go. For example, in my lifetime the production and marketing of personal computers came into existence. For this reason, I tend to favor Joyce Appleby's way of characterizing capitalism as relentless revolution. See her book THE RELENTLESS REVOLUTION: A HISTORY OF CAPITALISM (2010).

 

But does it make any difference if we use the Skidelskys' characterization of capitalism or Appleby's?

 

The Skidelskys work with the supposed parallel between the economic insatiability of capitalism and the apparent insatiability of individual desires of people who grow up and work in a capitalist economy. But I would interpret the apparent insatiability of individual desires of people who work in a capitalist economy as showing their under-development of the virtue of moderation as Plato and Aristotle understood this virtue -- as the mean between the extremes of over-doing something and under-doing it. They may also suffer from an under-development of courage to moderate their desires. In other words, people who grow up and work in a capitalist economy are free to examine their own tendencies and to cultivate the virtues of moderation and courage in their lives.

 

As a thought experiment, I would suggest that we use Appleby's characterization of capitalism as involving relentless revolution, but then shift our attention to the people who grow up and work in a capitalist economy. But once we make this shift in our characterization of the capitalist economy, then we no longer have a reason to focus on apparent insatiable desires. Instead, the apparent problem would then presumably be the relentless revolution in our desires. But this apparent new problem would require another way of addressing the apparent problem.

 

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3  |  4

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Must Read 1   Supported 1   Interesting 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Thomas Farrell Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Thomas James Farrell is professor emeritus of writing studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). He started teaching at UMD in Fall 1987, and he retired from UMD at the end of May 2009. He was born in 1944. He holds three degrees from Saint Louis University (SLU): B.A. in English, 1966; M.A.(T) in English 1968; Ph.D.in higher education, 1974. On May 16, 1969, the editors of the SLU student newspaper named him Man of the Year, an honor customarily conferred on an administrator or a faculty member, not on a graduate student -- nor on a woman up to that time. He is the proud author of the book (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Was the Indian Jesuit Anthony de Mello Murdered in the U.S. 25 Years Ago? (BOOK REVIEW)

Who Was Walter Ong, and Why Is His Thought Important Today?

Celebrating Walter J. Ong's Thought (REVIEW ESSAY)

More Americans Should Live Heroic Lives of Virtue (Review Essay)

Hillary Clinton Urges Us to Stand Up to Extremists in the U.S.

Martha Nussbaum on Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (Book Review)

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend