We all know the argument that profit motive is part of human nature is false. Yet I’m still not sure why capital owners pursue profits. Is it the difference of self-interest vs collective interest? If so then wouldn’t that enforce the argument on human nature? Or am I missing a crucial aspect of the Capitalist system? I’m genuinely wondering.
Edit: Sorry for not being able to answer all of the comments, the blocklist of my instance sadly won’t let me see all of the comments.
I do think that motive towards profit is indeed part of human nature. Denying so dehumanizes capitalists and hence alienates them, which isnt very productive in the study of capitalism given that they are just humans. Shitty humans most of the time, but humans nonetheless.
That is also to say that even with an element of profit motive as part of human nature, its existence as such (in the form of a desire) doesnt justify its constant exercise and normalization on a grand societal, collective scale.
To your second question, Yes, I do believe that capitalistic pursuits are purely from selfish and self-preservative motive, with a skrewed perception of the idea of “survival of the fittest”, it is a desire to build a small empire of your own self. The only reason a capitalist may grow their scope of the share of capital is because they need people to collaborate with them in their pursuit of acquiring capital, and people wont collaborate without their own self interest being met. In that sense, a capitalist, however empathatic they may be, “tolerates” their workers to atleast some degree and will never be able to see them as their equals. The workers are just that, workers. A part of the capitalist’s machine that is expendable at will.
Semi-related, this fantastic talk (mainly about racism) makes a great point on how systems we participate in (often not being able to not participate in them!) can make certain characteristics of our psyche more pronounced than they would otherwise be.
tl;dr when playing Monopoly, it’s very easy to be greedy, as that’s what the system of the game promotes.
Same with capitalism.
Thanks a lot for sharing the resource! I’ve been looking for conversations on such a topic!
So profit motive is a part of our nature but the Capitalist system tends to bring forth and immensely intensify this characteristic beyond any sort of reason? Perhaps greed shouldn’t be confused with the pursuit of profit here. Thanks for explaining, I think I have a better understanding of it now!
A business might need profit for its sustainability and expansion, but a problem with that comes about when we question: to what extent is the expansion justifiable and ethical?
For me, there is no way ethical justification other than to avoid to collapse of the business so that the workers don’t lose their jobs. However, profits in a Capitalist system may be well justified by the capital owners as they are often used to stay competitive. But then again the whole system is entirely unethical and unjustifiable.
yes, and profits arent entirely unethical if we take other types of business politics in consideration. Let’s say its a co-op business and they provide their service so well that more parts of society demands service. in that sense that may desire profit to pay for such an expansion while still being more ethical than its capitalist counterpart
@altair222 @hamborgr um it seems that youve got the socialist definition of profits a bit mixed up. profits are the extracted surplus value of labor to benefit the capitalist. the earnings of a cooperative no longer counts as profit by a socialist definition
maybe but in my exposition i believe i was trying to make the same kind of distinction
I agree completely, but as it stands co-ops are currently a very small minority in a market immensely dominated by private capital owners.