THE ROLE OF COMMERCE IN THE POST-RENAISSANCE WORLD

The system of free trade was validated during the post-renaissance era. This form of trade has become increasingly important due to its ability to transform the ethical setting by improving the life conditions and enhancing rights and freedoms. A free market system refers to a system in which goods are exchanged and owned privately. This brings about innovation as a result of the competition it brings (Smith 47). The free market system, and commerce in general, have been very elemental; to growth since the 17th century on various grounds.

First is its role to the technological project. The idea of the technological project was pioneered by Bacon and Descartes in the late 17th century. It revolves around the idea of controlling nature for human profit or benefit. Before its introduction, individuals sought to conform to nature in order to survive in comfort. However, this form of survival was found to strain personality freedoms. To resolve this issue, it was found necessary to involve innovation in business. The free market economy provides the necessary ingredient, competition, for innovation. Without competition, people would not strive to better products and so creativity would stagnate at a certain level (Kürten, and Kusmartsev 345).

The free market economy encourages division of labor which then leads to specialization. Specialization of labor, it is believed, leads to innovation. The innovation derived from specialization leads to ideas of labor saving devices which lead to increased productivity. Since the free market system is the best environment for innovation, it favors the technological project.

The free market system promotes individual rights. For a market economy to be successful, a limited government is required. A limited government strives to promote the rights of individuals rather than working towards the common good of the public. The government also serves the free market by offering personal; security and providing a legal system for the defense of rights, enforcements of contracts and resolution of contractual disputes. The effectiveness of this form of government is usually measured by whether it serves the needs of the market economy. The law of this form of governance also limits religious toleration so as to favor commerce (Capaldi 7).

Commerce also promotes peace. Countries that promote this form of trade prefer to encourage a peaceful environment for their residents. This way, they believe, peace bears fruits in the form of more productivity and innovation. Also through commerce, wealth is created through the TP system rather than stolen. For this purpose, it has been realized that countries that do business together are more likely to promote peace between them. It has been noted that no two commercial republics have had a major conflict since the end of the 17th century. This theory can also be called the McDonald effect as countries where the McDonalds food chains have been known not to go to war with each other (Kürten, and Kusmartsev 345).

Commerce in its free market form also favors the existence of autonomous individuals. These are individuals who have are able to main order upon themselves. They are individuals who have a property of self control. Autonomy gives every person a total control upon himself on condition that he observes the law. The autonomous individuals are welcomed in every society due to their productivity as far as the free market system is concerned. According to Fukuyama, Hegel points out that the most important thing for an autonomous individual is respect and recognition. These are best given by other autonomous individuals and are to blame for the institutionalized form of relationships. The autonomous individual is known to promote others to get into his role. He is said to train one how to fish rather than give fish (Fukuyama 23).

The concept of autonomy also explains the existence of dysfunctional people. While most people may think that the cause of their and existence, and the existence of every other problem, is a lack of resources and that redistribution would resolve the issue, this is not the case. Their existence is mainly as a result of their lack of the sense of personal autonomy. Globalization’s greatest challenge is the resistance to cultural change that attempts to substitute personal autonomy for more communalist sense of self (Kant 12).

Autonomy also attempts to change cultures to more productive ones. The change of culture often leads to a more intelligent, responsible and decisive individual. It is a cultural change that would lead to more cultured individuals. Even then, autonomy is not imposed and does not impose. This change often encourages the adoption of values that are critical for individual productivity. In the national setting, governments prefer the more productive methods to be used both for the good of their residents and for the government system (Khoshyaran 125).

The concept of the free market also supports the individual freedom. The individual freedom is that freedom that understands both cultural and ethical diversity. It takes into consideration the fact that all individuals cannot by any means have the same dimension of looking at an issue. Some people may look at this concept as a form of dictatorship. It is however not so as it promotes the individuality of every person. It seeks to allow every person a chance to have control of their lives by giving them this right. The personal freedom is often the mother to productivity amongst autonomous individuals but definitely not so with others who do not have this attribute (Khoshyaran 125).

It is also notable that the free market concept is one that allows for co-existence. Its ability to change in different settings enables individuals to have a choice that is in agreement with their religion and ethical dimensions. The only ones that are excluded are totalitarian, the authoritarian and the fanatics. These three fail to embrace the freedom of responsibility and wish to impose their ideals on others for their own personal good. The free market economy also seeks to eliminate such individuals from the society through its properties of competition and innovation. The free market concept also allows people to co-exist in terms of allowing everyone the consequences of their activities. This often leads to a more productive society (Kant 12).

The free market’s main challenge is environmental conservation. Through its inception, the technological project has mainly met with a lot of opposition from activists seeking to minimize the destruction to the environment. The free market economy is however the best and most reliable form of business and though it cannot entirely eliminate environment destruction, it seeks to minimize by adopting environment friendly measures as a competitive or innovative tool. This can be argued by taking into consideration the preferred products in the market today. While it is not entirely possible to be strict on choosing products with zero environmentally friendly or those that are 100% environment friendly, consumers have a tendency to prefer those products that are environmentally friendly. In this regard the competition forces manufacturers towards more environmentally friendly mechanisms. Without the free market, activists would not be able to push the producers to this point (Kant 12).

In conclusion, the free market is one system of trade that has come in handy in the modern world. It has come in, for instance, to promote the technological project which is to be credited for improvements in every sector. The technological design is the foundation for development as it supports the control of nature for human benefit. To this end, the free market economy has been active. It has also been able to promote the production of better products. Through the competitive edge that is introduced by the free market, consumers are forced to produce much better products than their producers. Consumers also get more enlightened on how to choose their products by looking at its quality and the way it has been produced. This makes it necessary for the continuous innovation towards better and friendlier products. The free market economy has also been known to promote peace. Commercial republics have not been known for a long time to promote war between them. The free economy has therefore been instrumental for the creation of the modern world and its systems of governance.

Works Cited

Capaldi, Nicholas. The Ethical Foundations of Free Market Societies. N.p., n.d. Print.

Fukuyama, Francis. The end of history and the last man. Simon and Schuster, 2006.

Kant, Immanuel. Perpetual Peace. New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1957. Print.

Khoshyaran, M. “The new capitalists: a structural change from the stock market economy to the free market economy.” Physica A-statistical Mechanics and Its Applications (2004): n. pag. Print.

Kürten, K. E., and F. V. Kusmartsev. “Bose-Einstein distribution of money in a free-market economy. II.” Europhysics Letters (epl) (2011): n. pag. Print.

Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations: Vol. 1. London: Dent, 1970. Print.