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When was capitalism ever based on altruism? Isn't the idea rather that everybody being as selfish as possible magically leads to good results?
by PavlovsCat 13y ago
When was capitalism ever based on altruism? Isn't the idea rather that everybody being as selfish as possible magically leads to good results?
- lumberjack 13y agoThe idea you are referring to is about self interest not selfishness.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoI know that the idea is enlightened self-interest. Is it in the enlightened self-interest of a person that after they died, there is still life in the Universe? Is it in my enlightened self-interest that those who starve and have no water have a better life? What, exactly, is the difference between self-interest and selfishness? Is one not just a euphemism for the other?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- eli_gottlieb 13y agoInitially it was based on that. Then, when that didn't work, it shifted over to Ayn Rand's "material self-interest is the only good" system of ethics.