ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses several noncomparative arguments. Noncomparative arguments assert that capitalism is just, because it satisfies a particular standard of justice. The Marxian challenge, particularly when backed by an increasingly militant working class, placed capitalism on the defensive. Economic arguments, of course, remained important: that capitalism is more efficient than socialism or more conducive to economic growth. Robert Nozick, critical of Rawls's liberal, redistributive ethic and of all concessions to socialism, defended a more conservative, "libertarian" version of capitalism. John Bates Clark was an early exponent of the claim that capitalist distribution accords with the ethical standard of productive contribution, that is, of the claim that capitalism is just because it returns to each individual the value he produces. Justification of capitalism would be left to philosophers, politicians, and economists qua citizens. The basic problem for one trying to justify capitalism is: interest, a return that requires neither risk nor entrepreneurial activity on the part of the recipient.
