Doing Good: How Ethical Capitalism Can Save Liberal Democracy

Doing Good is a bold call for a new social contract in a world buckling under the weight of multiple crises – geopolitical tension, ecological collapse, technological disruption, growing inequality, and the slow erosion of liberal democracy. The promises of modernity, once rooted in the convergence of technoscientific progress and liberal capitalism, have failed to deliver widespread peace and prosperity. Instead, we face an uncertain future that demands radical rethinking.

Markus Gabriel offers a daring yet pragmatic vision: a New Enlightenment that fuses ethical insight with market forces. We don't need to abandon capitalism, but we need a revolution within capitalism itself: ethical capitalism. This is a form of capitalism that does not merely accommodate morality but thrives on it – generating profit by doing good.

Rejecting the temptation to vilify capitalism, Gabriel reframes it as a system ripe for moral evolution. Doing business is not exempt from ethical responsibility. Ethical business is not only more just: it is economically smarter too. Businesses that solve real problems, respect planetary boundaries, and promote human flourishing are better positioned for long-term success than those that pursue short-term gain through exploitation or extraction.

Ethical capitalism is not a utopian fantasy: it is a realistic, actionable path that rejects authoritarian alternatives while advancing a richer conception of freedom. Gabriel thus opens the way to a new eco-social liberalism, one grounded in what we actually know about ourselves as prosocial, value-producing animals. Doing Good is both a warning and a manifesto for those determined to steer humanity toward a future worth inheriting.