Does the capitalist system erode community or enhance it? That is this course’s central question. To answer it we will think comparatively about what allows a society to flourish. This multidisciplinary course examines a range of contemporary concerns over the role of capitalism in shaping our society. In it students will consider both the origins and the future of capitalism. We will engage in a vibrant debate over economic systems and justice. Looking at primary sources from philosophy, politics and economics, we will trace the ideas and patterns of practice that shaped European and American economic culture from early modernity to the end of the twentieth century. Readings are drawn from sources concerning capitalism and its critics, including Aquinas, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Karl Marx, Alexander Hamilton, Max Weber, Simone Weil and F. A. Hayek. We will analyze the debates over the nature of capitalism, identify what encouraged capitalism’s rise in early modern Europe and in America, and think about its role in society today. We will look at exploitative capitalist arrangements, at corruptions in the system such as monopolies, and philosophers such as Rawls and Nozick who address the nature of justice in capitalist social arrangements.
