Introduction

Abstract

In appearance, capitalism is all about material benefits and those who gain them. Yet, the underlying reality is that of a system in which material benefits count for little because the real end sought is not material gain but a special kind of virtue that no material gain can ever secure. Capitalism is a system dominated by pursuit of an end in the face of which all real, possible satisfactions are made to appear inconsequential. Where pursuit of this special virtue dominates, the system produces not satisfaction but dissatisfaction, not gain, but loss. Loss is the reality of the system not because so many lose, but because, in it, loss becomes the primary end.