For a website with this name, the reading list was always going to be a little suspicious.
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal is a starting point for a serious argument about capitalism. The useful question is not whether you like the people who recommend it. It is whether you can state its arguments clearly, test them, and explain where you agree or disagree.
Three questions to bring to the book
What are we defending? Before debating capitalism, distinguish voluntary exchange and private ownership from subsidies, political favors, and businesses using the state to protect themselves from competition.
What would make it moral? Go beyond whether a system produces more stuff. Ask what freedom, responsibility, and a person’s right to pursue their own life should mean in practice.
What would change your mind? A reading list should sharpen an argument. Look for the strongest objection, a concrete counterexample, or a distinction that a meme cannot carry.
Read first. Post second.
This is an invitation to read the book and develop an argument. Longer essays and responses will live here as this publication grows.
Find the book at its publisher ↗
For an existing piece from Andy, start with Altruism’s Alternative. For the short version, there is always the timeline.