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Is capitalism ethical though? Isn't every employee an exploited person? “What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?” - Bertolt Brecht
by auserperson 9y ago
Is capitalism ethical though? Isn't every employee an exploited person?
“What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?” - Bertolt Brecht
- lolsal 9y agoI genuinely don't understand - how is an agreement for payment of services rendered exploitation? Value is generated for both parties of that exchange.
- contravariant 9y agoTu quoque isn't a valid argument. More importantly it implies you actually do think his behaviour is unethical.
- Qwertious 9y agoIt's basically the "robbing a thief" argument - it's not stealing, because the loot wasn't theirs in the first place.
- auserperson 9y agoNot exactly as well. It's more of robbing a thief back a percentage of what a thief stole from you. aka. the surplus value.
- auserperson 9y agoNo it does not implies that. You are mixing your personal values with what I said, there's no direct implication. It could be considered unethical in a situation where there's a equal ground of absolute trust and exchange of goods and information, but that never happens between an employee and an employer in a capitalist society. In this situation, the employee is only taking advantage of the economic value he can obtain of this information asymmetry, something his employer also does. So they are both in equal moral grounds and both are trying to make surplus in a society that seeks surplus. He is not unethical in itself, the same way as someone that consumes a product is not necessarily unethical, but the system that produces the product is.