What Is Capitalism - Ideologies and Views

Introduction

WHAT IS CAPITALISM?

IDEOLOGIES AND VIEWS:

Adam Smith

John Locke

Good Evening. This awesome group is here to prove the greater advantage of Capitalism and the ideologies and views of Adam Smith and John Locke.

Exactly what is Capitalism you might ask?! Capitalism is a socio-economic system in which private ownership means profit to the owner. The owner controls the means of production, so the profit belongs to the private business owner. In capitalism, the free market determines the production, distribution and price of goods and services.

Capitalism is often called the "free-enterprise system" because individuals are free to invest their capital (money or property) however they choose. The "law of supply and demand", described by Adam Smith, is based on the principle that when supply exceeds demand, prices fall, and when demands for a product exceeds its supply, prices rise. An excess of demand over time causes inflation of prices.

Capitalism is also referred to as the "market economy" because buyers and sellers are free to exchange goods and services in a flexible market barter that is influenced by supply and demand. Markets of this type are ancient and date back to Biblical times. For example, In Genesis, Jacob bought Esau's inheritance birthright (Supply=one of a kind) for a bowl of soup (Demand=avoid starvation, Genesis 25:32).

Ideologies

Adam Smith vs. Karl Marx

Adam Smith was considered as the father of economics as a science. As a member of the school of classical economic thought, Smith fused economics with moral theory regarding the way man ought to live.

Karl Marx on the other hand is one of the most controversial figures of the twentieth century, though he lived in the 19th, his legacy has lived on as one of controversy...As one of the original minds behind communism and a fundamental revolutionary, he is renowned as a radical and somewhat dangerous political philosopher.

These men have together been placed in their ideology, signaling that there are similarities in their ideology. Politically, however, these men differ greatly. This debate intends to display some of their most poignant theories to discover when and why these men diverged in their political philosophy.

John Locke vs. Karl Marx

John Locke and Karl Marx are often stated as two of the most noted and influential modern political thinkers. John Locke was an English philosopher who was famous for his use of empiricism and his social