Moral Justification Of Capitalism In Atlas Shrugged By Ayn Rand

The soundbite criticisms of capitalism are legion, yet it’s harder to offer alternatives, aside from the vague notion of 'something else'. Despite the carnage of trying to socially engineer equality in the 20th century, nevertheless the myth persists that capitalist wealth creation is superfluous and money is readily available to a small number of elitists called a government under common ownership, who distribute, or simply print more paper. Ironically, the ones shouting the loudest against capitalism are often those dependent on the profits of capitalism to provide the welfare payments needed to keep them alive.

“I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me” (Rand 36). This excerpt provides insight to Equality’s personal view on the ethics surrounding morality. Morality is a complex and unique concept of the perceived difference between right and wrong. Within each environment and each new set of standards comes different ideas of morality, whether they are forced by a society or thought of individually as guiding principles for oneself. Ayn Rand’s Anthem presents an ideological war between Equality’s society and Prometheus’s views: a war fought between collectivism and individualism. Within the idea of collectivism and the contrasting belief in individualism, one finds different concepts of morality.

One of the strongest arguments against capitalism is the quote “It was a monster devouring with a thousand mouths, trampling with a thousand hoofs; it was the Great Butcher – it was the spirit of Capitalism made flesh.”(334), the description of monster depicts capitalism as barbaric instead of those under the influence of capitalism being barbaric. This quote lends itself to the idea that people must fight for what they

“One must never fail to pass a moral judgment”. This statement is huge because this is a thing that happens all the time. People will pass a moral judgment and that is what they did in the book Anthem, by Ayn Rand. “There was no pain in their eyes and no knowledge of the agony of their body. There was only joy in them, and pride, a pride holier than it is fit for human pride to be.” While he watches the Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word burn at the stake in Chapter II, Equality 7-2521 makes this observation about the Transgressor’s stoicism. The word the Transgressor has spoken is “I,” a concept forbidden in the society because everyone must work for the good of his or her brothers and any thought that occurs in private is necessarily evil. The

Society to this day is very dependent on many things, to be exact the government. Some people would call and find this to be a normal and fine thing as it is common, yet there are also those ethical egoism believers who in contrast to ethical altruism are in any way possible against someone who is dependent on the government. In Ayn Rand’s book, Anthem, she creates a dystopian story in which she tells of what a government in full control can lead to. Ayn Rand a woman seen with a sense of “apparition,” whose thoughts were greatly influenced throughout her life, who believed in ethical egoism and used her dystopian story as a way to alert the population was indeed a women with knowledge and mind.

God’s most revolutionary invention is mankind. Mankind, whose minds are constantly churning with ideas and ambition, and whose hands are used for creating, dominates the world. People learned to tame Nature herself, from the mastery over fire to the domestication of animals and plants; God’s invention learned to be the Creator of a different world, where glassy metropolitans scrape the heavenly skies threatening God’s sacred home itself. Much like the glassy cities, Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem defies the laws of Christianity, and replaces God with Man, the creator and giver of the earth. Anthem praises the individualistic morality of Equality 7-2521 and his worship of the god EGO and the power of the self, while challenging the totalitarian morals of the dystopia in which the novella is set.

Over fifty years ago, author and philosopher Ayn Rand stood in front of hundreds and delivered the iconic words, “every ugly, brutal aspect of injustice towards racial or religious minorities is being practiced towards businessmen” (Rand, “America's”); she went on to argue that they suffer under a “silent reign of terror” where they are always assumed by the government to be guilty, and thus become “exploited, denounced, [and] defenseless” (Rand, “America's). Rights that others are freely given are denied to them through antitrust laws that effectively strike them down for their success; Rand phrased it “the greater the virtue,” meaning their individual productivity and ability, “the greater the penalty” (Rand, “America's”). Some of her

Equality’s views on morality differ from Equality’s views at the end of the story. In 1938, Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem was published. A novel of which focused on the philosophy that man is a heroic being with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life. In Anthem, we follow the character Equality who starts the story as just another member of the collective who can only think and act for the collective. Equality is stripped of individuality and is assigned his name from birth, represented by an iron band around his wrist. This sets up the conflict Equality has with himself as he becomes more curious with his surroundings eventually finding a hidden hole where he is free to indulge his curiosity by experimenting with tools he is not allowed

So what is capitalism really? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, capitalism is “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market”. In all words, capitalism is a system where you are allowed to have private property. I think the government are the antagonist of the movie Atlas Shrugged because not only are the taking over companies and material rights, setting how production is going to work, and wanting everyone to have their “fair share”.

Ayn Rand was able to accurately explain the capitalistic system in which we live in through the quote, “America’s abundance was not created by public sacrifices to ‘the common good,’ but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes.” Evidently, Rand believed that all the work people did within America was purely in their own self-interest, notwithstanding the work for “the common goal,” or benefit of everyone else. Rand, however, emphasises the meaning of “the common goal” to reveal the idea that if people can say they’re doing it for more than just themselves, it removes the moral weight from their shoulders and acts as a shield of justification, allowing people to do anything. The only limit on what people were able to accomplish depended only upon themselves, or whoever else was a part of this group of free (working) men, meaning that any resources that can be utilized, in most circumstances, will be utilized. The only time these resources wouldn’t be taken advantage of are when they are in the possession of those who do not truly strive for true abundance but, instead, take enough for themselves to survive, thus making the abundance only available to a select few genius individuals. Ayn Rand’s quote states that people are corrupt and greedy, and after examining the past examples of the world, this statement

The overall message for Francisco’s speech from Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is that money is actually good, but the people who use it can be bad. To begin with, Francisco points out that money is simply a way to exchange goods and services. He states, “Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them.” He explains how money can’t do anything else other than being used to exchange for goods and services. Another example of money being good is when he says the money will never be the cause of your own problems.

“When one acts on pity against justice, it is the good whom one punishes for the sake of the evil; when one saves the guilty from suffering, it is the innocent whom one forces to suffer.”

Capitalism started up as a system of investing and sharing money in order to increase the value of resources in the future. Capitalism was just an economic system, but then soon turned into a complex system of ethical practices. Harari defines capitalism as, “a set of teachings about how people should behave, educate their children and even think” (Harari 314). This economic system evolved along with the people that were endorsing it. Capitalism enables the rich to get richer, while the poor continue to get poorer. There are many benefits to capitalism, but there are downfalls as well, and these downfalls tend to be masked because of the rapid speed capitalists grow at. Harari first presents a definition for capitalism, and soon goes into great detail on why capitalism, while fast paced and unforgiving, is able to stand unwavered while other productions fail.

By definition, Capitalism is an economic system controlled chiefly by individuals and private companies instead of by the government. In this system, individuals and companies own and direct most of the resources used to produce goods and services, including land and other natural resources labor, and “capital”. “Capital” includes factories and equipment and sometimes the money used in businesses (Friedman, 5).

Capitalism leads to the creation of unprecedented wealth, advanced technology, and wide prosperity. Yet capitalism is denounced as a system of greed, materialism, and ruthless dog-eat-dog competition