The Ethics of Capitalism: An Introduction

This is an undergraduate-level textbook that introduces classical political philosophy as a framework to evaluate the ethics of capitalism up to the present day. It is rooted in historical eighteenth- and nineteenth-century defenses of capitalism, as written by key proponents such as Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, and applies these arguments to contemporary issues such as wage inequality, global trade, climate change, and the welfare state. The authors aim to engage students in debating the ethics of economic systems-specifically capitalism, socialism, and feudalism-and whether various contemporary economic injustices can be interpreted as legacy of each system. There are also study questions at the end of each chapter and an author-created companion website.

Daniel Halliday is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Stanford University in 2011.

John Thrasher is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department and in the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University in Orange County, California. He is also an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Monash University. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Arizona in 2013.