Harry Frankfurt’s arguments presents a critical analysis and discussion on the issues of capitalist accumulation and inequality. His arguments pertaining to morality as a way of voicing concern for circumstances that are based on economics as opposed to deliberate careful thinking have gained momentum in the academic world. Notably, his ideas concerning morality as compared to reasoning especially when it comes to economics is groundbreaking and subsequently exhibits the constant shifts in ideological perspectives that exists when it comes to the question of morality and reasoning and especially on economic perspectives. In his book On Inequality, Harry Frankfurt supposedly juxtaposes two essays that were previously published. One essay talks about economic equality as a moral ideal and the other exemplifies the idea that equality deserves respect. Both of these essays were of the opinion that both equality and inequality have no significant moral importance. In addition, the essays argue that what matters is not necessarily the fact that everyone should have equal distribution of advantages and resources, but that people should have the exposure of sufficient resources that are just enough to enable them to lead a satisfying life by their own accord. Therefore, Frankfurt here provides a controversial argument that opposes years of equality literature.
In the presentation of his essays, Frankfurt not only asserts claim on intrinsic value, rather, he goes further and denies the values of equality and states that they should not be taken as the end result of any objective. The evidence of this perspective is in the remarks that he clearly states that economic inequality should be appreciated as an inherent moral innocence and that such a recognition facilitates the fact that it may actually be detrimental to regard economic inequality as harmful. Such arguments have long been the cornerstone of capitalistic thinking, and have resulted in an ever-increasing social gap, and disconnect whereby the rich and poor are highly contrasted in all forms including their geographical area of living. Frankfurt further admonishes the prevalence of a thinking that is based on egalitarianism. According to his arguments, Frankfurt claims that through egalitarianism, there is a diversion to the thinking of intellectuals and that such a diversion ensues from the fact that egalitarianism thinking provides a relative conceptual lucidity and an arithmetic ease, which lures economists and philosophers. In his thinking, Frankfurt fails to comprehend the difficulties experienced in the articulation of clear and concise theories of equality.
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In Dillan’s presentation of Max Weber, who was a famous sociologist and one who came up with the thinking of sociology as an all-inclusive science that entails social action, morality is the cornerstone of reason and this should highly influence economic equality and ultimately growth. Weber exemplifies Protestantism as a foundational basis for proper economic growth. The fact that Protestantism fosters individualism and results in self-control and ultimately the zeal to work and put ideas into motion makes protestant values a key ingredient in drastic economic developments. He states as a fact that the early American capitalism was as a result of moral considerations that were promptly followed by sound reasoning. Such considerations according to Weber were the sole driver of economic development in America. With Protestantism comes prospects of economic equality regardless of the diverse individual states and ambitions. Therefore, Weber epitomizes equality as a positive step towards economic development and inclusion. In conclusion, inasmuch as Franklin articulates his ideas expressively, the truth of the matter is that in the social scale, total equality is hard to achieve. However, instead of letting the social gap widen through a thinking of inequality, sociologists should employ Weber’s thinking in letting morality affect reason subsequently bringing about rapid progressive economic growth.
References
“Appreciating the inherent moral innocence of economic inequality … facilitates recognition of why it may actually be harmful to regard economic inequality as being, in itself, a morally important goal.” (p. xi, emphasis added)
“The prevalence of egalitarian thinking,” Frankfurt says, “diverts the attention of intellectuals” from the difficult problems entailed by elaborating a theory of sufficiency. (p. 14)
