ODowd is an eclectic. He writes in the tradition of millennia of philosophes from Aristotle and Confucius, through Judaeo-Christianity, to the Open Society of Karl Popper. Enriched with allusions from literature and history, ODowds Paper demonstrates how liberal capitalism provides the only material environment where both the human mind and spirit can achieve their highest aspirations.
Chapter 1 uses the parable of the talents to demonstrate the necessity of and moral appropriateness of work, trade and exchange. Chapter 2 argues, that while human action (such as trade) is always carried out within a framework of knowledge, our knowledge is never complete. We do not know what we do not know. And to believe otherwise too easily leads to impatient governments coercing individuals to agree with such a false, alternative belief. (Chapter 3 recalls Galileo and the Inquisition, and Plato and the Republic to illustrate such use of central force.)
Chapter 4 continues looking at such coercion, but shows how that word was transmuted by self-styled progressives such as Marx, Lenin and Hitler. Marx, less dishonest than some, called for a trade-off between individual freedom and material well-being. That trade-off, history has shown, is unnecessary. Indeed (Chapter 6) drawing on the history of poetry, sculpture and other arts, ODowd shows individual freedom is a prerequisite for creativity.
Creativity, change, advance and evolution is best promoted by individuals, not mandated from the top (Chapter 5). Dichotomous change is traumatic, and if wrong is wholly wrong. To believe otherwise, of course, not only courts the dangers of socialism but also the evils of ill-founded feelings of cultural superiority (Chapter 7).
But different performances mean arriving at results closer to, or further from the winning post. It is all about competition (Chapter 8). Yet ODowd argues, absent socialism, there are no losers in economic competition. Unlike sporting competition where competitors are in close contact (often brutally take rugby or boxing), with economic cooperation we are working for others but motivated by the commendable urge not to leave our talents buried in the ground.
