midterm paper

Aaron Rodriguez

Management 3080: Business Responsibility in Management

Frank Cardenas

October 15, 2018

Accumulation of Wealth good or bad ?

Since the dawn of time man has always found different items of value. In this finding of value of items on this earth certain members of the society have looked to accumulate as much of these valuable items as possible. This phenomena was found evident in early homosapiens when they wouldl fight over resources such as firewood, food and water.  The first philosopher  to examine this phenomena was Plato in his book The Allegory of the Cave written in 360 B.C.. Plato believed private property was not good for society because it would distract us from finding the real truth. He state this when he says, “Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half.” (Cardenas Powerpoint, Quotes of Plato, Slide 14)  This quote shows how when we look to accumulate wealth we are distracted from pursuing the progression of society with all our strength this lack of focus will be detrimental to society which will only allow us to produce half of the accomplishments of a society as would be possible if we focused all of our energy and time into progressing society.

Aristotle was the next philosopher to examine this dilemma of private property. His position on private property was contrasting to Plato's position and said  that it is good to have private property because if we don’t know how to have our own property then we can never know how to share our property with others. He believes that when we have our own  property we learn to master our greed instead of letting it control us and will know when our greed is satisfied. “Property should be in a certain sense common, but, as a general rule, private; for, when every one has a distinct interest, men will not complain of one another, and they will make more progress, because every one will be attending to his own business.” (A-Z quotes). In this quote he states that we should share our property because property is a common good to society but  is still private because when we pursue our own self-interest then we will not complain about others and their ability to pursue their self-interest and this will allow society to progress faster because everyone is pursuing their own self-interest.

One of Aristotle's students named Thomas Aquinas was another philosopher who examined the concept of private property. His view on private property was the same as his teacher in the fact that it doesn’t matter if you have private property but what you do with that private property. Thomas aquinas states “Human affairs are conducted in more orderly fashion if each man is charged with taking care of some particular thing himself, whereas there would be confusion if everyone had to look after any one thing indeterminately” ( Five Insights about Private Property from Thomas Aquinas).In this quote Thomas aquinas examines human affairs and states that  private property is a good thing because they will then take care of one thing about themselves and have a focus to improve society. From this train of thought he came up with the dominionism theory which states that all wealth is derived from the natural world and god therefore it is good as long as you give some of it back to god, since everything came from god, but when giving one must use reason like the use faith since god gave them the power of reason. Thomas Aquinas realises that some inequity is normal but not super wealth. HIs view on super wealth is because those that obtain super wealth take too much from the world and don’t give enough back in order to obtain and sustain their wealth.Thomas aquinas thus believes that private property is good as long as those individuals who obtain wealth give back to the world since they are reaping the benefits of the earth when they obtain their wealth.   

The next philosopher to examine this phenomena was John Locke. John Locke also  believed in private property and felt it was a natural right to have private property. Locke believes  is the main purpose of government because without property we have nothing besides our personhood. Rousseau has an opposing view to these philosophers and is critical of Hobbes and castigates Locke. His belief is that private property is dangerous, he illustrates this in the social contract. His belief is that man is free and yet they are everywhere in chains because of their dependency on private property. Private property is our departure from good and our fall from grace. His belief is that the fruits of the Earth is for all of mankind and the Earth belongs to noone so we all must help each other in any way possible.

The final era to examine the accumulation of wealth is the colonial era. In this era philosophers like Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson felt that the ownership of land would be the backbone to the American economy and would be the reason that the country would prosper.Benjamin Franklin once said “Private property ... is a Creature of Society, and is subject to the Calls of that Society, whenever its Necessities shall require it, even to its last Farthing, its contributors therefore to the public Exigencies are not to be considered a Benefit on the Public, entitling the Contributors to the Distinctions of Honor and Power, but as the Return of an Obligation previously received, or as payment for a just Debt.” ( A-Z quotes). In this quote Benjamin Franklin states that private property is a product of society and it is essential to societies function. The quote also says that those who do obtain wealth should give back to their community because their communities are the reason that they were allowed to obtain their wealth in the first place even if their product is not a public good in the beginning or while the selling of the product or service.

All of these theories on the accumulation of wealth are extremely prevalent today. Today's societies have major disparity in wealth having some of the richest people since ancient times. Societies and governments constantly struggle upon how much large companies owe to their societies and the rest of the world and try to make them give back through charities and other taxes that benefit those less privileged than themselves. On the other hand government also look to give companies breaks to allow them to pay their people more and let their employees have their own wealth and property. In general society protects the accumulation of wealth because those who have accumulated massive amounts of wealth will be helped out if their companies begin to fail because of their deep integration into the economy of the world and the success of those large companies is connected to the success of the world and advancement of all societies. However, companies have taken an initiative to help the advancement of societies such as America’s building of infrastructure in countries like Japan and China in the 1950’s and 1960’s and China's efforts to advance the countries in Africa. The accumulation of wealth has allowed countries like America and now China to help other countries and societies to advance their societies and build a higher standard of living and allow them to pursue their own personal interests.  In conclusion, the accumulation of wealth is a good thing for individuals because it allows them to pursue their own self interest. The accumulation of wealth is also advantages because it allows corporations and individuals to help those that are less fortunate than them by building the infrastructure for them to succeed and build their own wealth.

Works Cited

“Aristotle Quote.” A-Z Quotes, www.azquotes.com/quote/1198569.

Cardenas Powerpoint, Quotes of Plato, Slide 14

“Five Insights About Private Property from Aquinas.” Institute For Faith, Work & Economics, 12 Apr. 2018, tifwe.org/five-insights-about-private-property-from-aquinas/.