Publisher's Synopsis
Michelman claims that capitalism must seek moral as well as practical justification, much as democracy has done. While benign capitalists are all to the good, and should be well rewarded, the three branches of American government, and the mediating institutions of the press, church, and the intellectual establishment are indispensable moderators for such a powerful, pervasive system. - - A venture in moral philosophy as well as in economics, the book claims that moral ideas precede fundamental economic change. Aristotle, Aquinas, Adam Smith, Rousseau, Karl Marx, and John Rawls are among those called upon under this proviso. They help us understand capitalism before we evaluate it. SchumpeterÆs æmarch into socialismÆ is compared with HeilbronerÆs conditional endorsement of capitalism, subject to expanding its moral boundaries.
