Is Inheritance Justified Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Is Inheritance Justified - Essay Example This discussion has been very common among scholars, especially philosophers, and economists and some of them have gone to the extent of publishing scholarly works either discrediting or in support of this longtime practice. This paper seeks to dissect this topic from a philosophical perspective- employing ethics and critical thinking- so as establish whether inheritance is a just or unjust practice. In â€Å"Is Inheritance Justified?† Haslett D. W. introduces his work by noting how income is not distributed equally in the United States (Isbister 143). This unequal distribution is, indeed, a problem experienced by all the governments of the world and is a point of concern to every global citizen including myself. So as to address this issue, the government has dished out gifts and introduced the idea of estate taxes to tame the inequality. Haslett contends that giving gifts does not solve the problem because he believes inheritance just worsens the inequality. The question, therefore, is that â€Å"is this skewness brought about by inheritance?† should the unequal distribution of income be a reason to abolish inheritance? I don’t know what other people would say, but I think that would be harsh and would hurt our economy big time. Haslett seems to be a staunch believer in capitalism as a model for economic growth even though he does not demonstrate this. He borrows heavily from the principles of capitalism to support why inheritance should be abolished. According to him, there are three fundamental principles of capitalism that inheritance is inconsistent with. The first principle is that an individual’s income should be commensurate with his productivity, and Haslett firmly believes inheritance does not encourage this. The second ideal, which is also contravened by inheritance, is that people should be given equal opportunities to produce. The third ideal is freedom, that is, people should be allowed to engage in transactions that benefit them so long as