Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on How Self-Interest Has Ruined America
. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 5 page paper uses Peter Singer’s “How Are We To Live?” as a basis to argue that self-interest has ruined America. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVSlfInt.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
its adherence to the principles of self-interest. But it can also be argued that self-interest, taken too far, can destroy. This paper uses Peter Singers work to argue that the
United States has done just that: by pursing self-interest to the exclusion of the common interest, America has set itself on the path to ruin. Discussion Americas love affair with
money to the exclusion of society and the environment is centuries old, and goes back to the divergent philosophies of Adam Smith and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In 1776 Smith wrote a
book that has become the capitalists Bible: The Wealth of Nations. In he, he argued in favor of self-interest as the engine that would drive prosperity, saying that if we
produced something better and more cheaply than others, we would succeed; if not, the market would put us out of business (Singer 39). Thus he created the "sacred" concept of
the market that is still so beloved of capitalists today, a self-correcting mechanism that rewards individual effort with success. While this seems to make sense, a moments reflection reveals how
badly skewed it really is. What about those people who have a solid, practical and useful idea, but cannot bring it to the market because they lack the resources to
develop it? Or those who cannot compete because the barriers to entry are too high for them? They never get onto the "playing field" at all. The competing philosophy
was articulated by Rousseau, who argued that Nature was supreme and would supply everything man ever needed, if we left it alone. The earth was covered with "immense forests whose
trees were never mutilated by the axe" and they would provide "both sustenance and shelter for every species of animal" (Singer 40). But we cut down the forests and went
...