Morality and Capitalism: A Dialogue on Freedom

by David Kendall, Jessica Kendall (Illustrator)

Critics of capitalism claim that it is unjust and immoral—never mind that it has advanced human prosperity far beyond anything imaginable just 200 years ago. Are the opponents of capitalism right? Is capitalism unjust and immoral? The dialogues of Solon and Tyro and the citizens of Threesville may have you changing your mind about the morality of capitalism by book's end.

177 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 2014

Reviews

[Brutus Bellamy]

I'll address my concerns first:

1) While the author makes his work readable by providing a series of connected questions and answers, his provision of definitions for certain concepts backfires in his approach. In this, he will provide a definition to a concept (a notable example being "capitalism" itself), and then insist upon his definition as absolute. With such things as "capitalism," this could present some recurring problems in libertarian and free market dialogues as semantics and the rigid reinforcement and imposition of one's own conception overtakes substance discussions. Capitalism has a very shaky history in the usage of the word, and the continuation of such only further takes the word into the realm of being an anti-concept. This is a minor issue, but it did stand out to me.

2) the author uses broad statements to characterize the opposition to what he considers "capitalism," with only a few of the specific concerns being addressed. This, at times, makes the author appear more as a ranting boomer against the "socialist agenda" than as an esteemed academic (especially towards the last third of the book).

So, overall, I consider the book's flaws to be mostly rooted in its approach and style of rhetoric. As for the positives, I would consider this to be a decent introduction to free market concepts as they relate to the Moral/Categorical Imperative, and I furthermore appreciate the diverse sources pooled for understanding the author's viewpoint (which include, amongst others, Nozick, Aristotle, Mises, Rothbard, and, in my opinion, a little too much Ayn Rand - though it does pique my curiosity as to what motivated him to include a Proudhon quote). The dialogues between Solon and Tyro, while incredibly one-sided, get the ideas across very well if one requires expounding.

[James Lechleiter]

As others have said, the book is well written but kind of goes off the deep end near the end. To address why capitalism is great for the environment, the author essentially just says “ China is worse”. ( page 119 for the actual quote). I think the book explains the core questions and ideas well, but loses some traction

[Olivia Brown]

schools kicking my butt so i’m making my class readings hit my goodreads goal. i did read all of it. not particularly a fan as his argument is just true capitalism would be moral but like we will never have true capitalism because intervention will always happen so it was like pointless. also, didn’t like the guys chit chatting throughout.

[dave semrud]

Utopia's do Exist on both ends of the Political Spectrum.

I enjoyed the first 2/3 d's than the author went into daydream mode and I lost interest. So be it.

[Mike]

This is a great book for someone interested in developing their own basis for questioning the political/economic world around them. It's well written and provides plenty of practical thought-provoking ideas for anyone with an open mind. There are plenty of references to the great works in economics and philosophy for folks wanting more. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It's one I'll recommend to friends.