Description: Cooperation and Excellence
Cooperation and Excellence
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George Bragues’s well-written and thoroughly researched book is a much needed reminder to economists and others that there are thinkers before Adam Smith whose work is relevant to the case for capitalism. By also focusing on the pre-modern concern for community and other values often neglected in more modern arguments, Bragues helpfully expands the case for capitalism by emphasizing the importance of elements of human behavior other than self-interest.
George Bragues
Lexington Books
Jul, 2017
9781498529747
111,895
Business & Economics--GeneralPolitical Science--History & Theory
Posted by Emily Tyler
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Chapters
Cooperation and Excellence
Acknowledgments
Cooperation and Excellence
I would like to thank my colleagues at the University of Guelph-Humber for the support they have shown in the process of fitting the writing of this book within the fulfillment of my academic administrative duties. A special thanks in this regard is due to John Walsh, the vice-provost at the University of Guelph-Humber, who has been nothing short of encouraging with regards to the pursuit of my...
George Bragues
Lexington Books
351

Cooperation and Excellence
Introduction: Why Pro-Capitalists Need to Think Pre-Modern
Cooperation and Excellence
To delve into the contemporary literature defending capitalism is to meet with a dazzling array of supporting arguments. Most striking is the sheer diversity of approaches. One group insists upon the social benefits of capitalism. Another emphasizes capitalism’s accord with the ideals of human autonomy and dignity. Still another expatiates on its conduciveness to all kinds of individual...
George Bragues
Lexington Books
6,612

Cooperation and Excellence
1 - Why Modern Ideas Leave Capitalism Exposed
Cooperation and Excellence
Were Cicero somehow able to come back from the dead and take in the current philosophic scene, he would surely find much that is different from the days he spent imbibing ancient Greek philosophy. There are not many thinkers around identifying themselves as Pythagoreans, Epicureans, Stoics, Cynics, or Pyrrhonians. True, a Cicero come back to life would come across a few Platonists and more than a...
George Bragues
Lexington Books
16,287

Cooperation and Excellence
2 - The Social Cooperation Directive
Cooperation and Excellence
Capitalism is that condition in which people specialize in production activities and engage in voluntary exchanges of goods with one another. It is a mode of social cooperation. That being the case, the probabilistic outlook on capitalism to which Cicero can guide us will have to be culled from his writings on morality and politics. Both these phenomena, after all, help...
George Bragues
Lexington Books
10,439

Cooperation and Excellence
3 - The Ciceronian Theory of Justice
Cooperation and Excellence
Once the directive of social cooperation is accepted as the touchstone by which we are to frame our politico-economic institutions, the basic structure of morality comes more plainly into view. The morally right appears as the set of behavioral norms consistent with the logic of social cooperation, whether by promoting its mutual benefits or, at the very least, by not detracting from its capacity...
George Bragues
Lexington Books
12,944

Cooperation and Excellence
4 - Capitalism Cannot Be Secular
Cooperation and Excellence
The reader may have noticed that a crucial matter was left looming in my sympathetic treatment of natural law: God. The existence of a divine being supportive of justice forms an essential premise of the natural law teaching that Cicero adopts. In backing that teaching, then, do I not have to prove that there is a God...
George Bragues
Lexington Books
15,041

Illustrations in this section
  • 9781498529747:F04-001
    9781498529747:F04-001
  • 9781498529747:F04-002
    9781498529747:F04-002
    • Cooperation and Excellence
    5 - A Constitution that Opens the Way to Capitalism
    Cooperation and Excellence
    Defenders of capitalism are wont to think that their task is complete once they have defended capitalism—that is, once they have shown the superiority of that economic system in generating outcomes widely thought to be desirable. This list of outcomes will typically include material affluence, individual freedom, equal opportunity, and happiness. Once these are established, however, it is...
    George Bragues
    Lexington Books
    16,515

    Cooperation and Excellence
    6 - How a Redistributive State Jeopardizes Social Cooperation
    Cooperation and Excellence
    Few occasions better demonstrate the mighty hold which the aversion against inequality has on the anti-capitalist mind than what happened after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Let us recall that, prior to this event, the proponents of socialism had put great emphasis on the argument that the economic system they favored would outperform capitalism in producing economic growth. Much of the support...
    George Bragues
    Lexington Books
    14,264

    Cooperation and Excellence
    7 - Pursuing Human Excellence under Capitalism
    Cooperation and Excellence
    Two subjects are mentioned in the title of this book: cooperation and excellence. Up to now, almost everything discussed has hinged upon cooperation. It was the criterion used to evaluate the inequalities of capitalist societies. It was the basis for deciding in favor of a mixed regime to serve as the political context for capitalism. It was a crucial consideration in the argument that capitalism...
    George Bragues
    Lexington Books
    9,766

    Cooperation and Excellence
    Conclusion: From Utter Skepticism to Probalistic Contrarianism
    Cooperation and Excellence
    The argument of this book started with the claim that human reason is, as far as can be gauged at this point, unable to arrive at any kind of knowledge. Neither the information provided by our senses, the conclusions produced by our logical inferences, nor the judgments emanating from our moral valuations can be trusted. Now the attempt to ethically defend capitalism could have stopped right then...
    George Bragues
    Lexington Books
    2,158

    Cooperation and Excellence
    Bibliography
    Cooperation and Excellence
    George Bragues
    Lexington Books
    4,947

    Cooperation and Excellence
    Index
    Cooperation and Excellence
    Amin, Idi,3.55 , 3.56 ,
    George Bragues
    Lexington Books
    2,103

    Cooperation and Excellence
    About the Author
    Cooperation and Excellence
    George Bragues is assistant vice provost and program head of business at the University of Guelph-Humber, Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Boston College, an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University, along with an M.A. and B.A. (Hon.) in Political Science from the University of Toronto. His writings have...
    George Bragues
    Lexington Books
    201

    Illustrations

    List of illustrations