The Moral Limitations of Capitalism

The author claims that capitalism must seek moral as well as practical justification, much as democracy has done. An exercise in moral philosophy and economics, this work suggests that moral ideas precede fundamental economic change. It calls on the work of Aristotle, Aquinas, Adam Smith, Rousseau, Karl Marx and John Rawls to explain capitalism before evaluating it. Schumpeter's "march into socialism" is compared with Keilbroner's cautious endorsement of capitalism, subject to expanding its moral boundaries.