Laissez Faire

Tania Ibarra

Phil 305

October 2, 2013

Laissez-faire & Competitive Philosophy

Laissez-faire philosophers follow the idea of “No force, theft, or fraud”. What this means is that certain outcomes have to be looked at since the beginning and made sure things were done correctly. Laissez-faire does not have a goal, the only concern with laissez-faire philosophers is that procedures are followed correctly. As long as someone did not cheat or hurt someone else throughout the process of getting something done, it does not matter where things end up.

The goal of competitive philosophy is to promote full and free competition. According to competitive philosophy, in a just society the rules will say whatever they need to in order to promote full and free competition. Competitive government snaps a shot and look for monopolies/oligopolies because they believe that those “shots” are trouble shots. Unlike laissez-faire, competitive philosophy will get the government involved for certain things.

A real world example of government strategies that might help promote the goal of competitive philosophy are antitrust laws. Those antitrust laws basically regulate the right to make a contract. The goal of antitrust laws is to protect competition based on the idea that a free unregulated market will lead to the establishment of coercive monopolies. According to http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/antitrust economists believe that monopolies and trusts hurt both individuals and the public because it leads to anti-competitive practices.

A government funded program that exists today that would no longer exist in a laissez-faire society is social security. Although it may help seniors in the future, it may also harm them. According to http://www.humanevents.com/2006/04/10/the-10-most-harmful-government-programs/ “The program has socialized the retirement of Americans, making most seniors financially dependent on payments that the federal government may alter, decrease or...