Vitality and Property

One difficulty in interpreting a collection as an organic unity is that while the latter is typically spatially contiguous, the former might not be.  However, since the territory that a collection inhabits is continuous, in the absence of privacy, it can be the medium of an expression of unity.  Hence, because Vitality is a characteristic of an Organism, Socialism is inherently potentially more vital than is Capitalism, at least when the latter entails private property 'Right' to be 'Natural'.

Vitality and Political Philosophy

Vitality is a characteristic of an organism, which, as a unity of more or less essential parts, is distinguished from a mere contingently co-existing aggregate.  Now, Plato's concept of a Republic is unified by a Soul, and includes parts the "mother" of each of which is "necessity'.  Thus, even though Vitalism is a system usually associated with the 19th Century, notably with Bergson, the first Vitalist Political Philosophy precedes it by more than two millennia.

The Economy and Growth

An increase in the height of a plant, but not that of a building can be characterized as 'growth'.  Similarly, 'X is growing' is meaningful only if the referent of 'X' is an organism.  However, insofar as it is unclear what the subject in the common phrase 'The Economy is growing' could denote, the proposition could be meaningless.  Thus, for example, if it mediately represents some increase in the Society to which 'The Economy' is implicitly attributed, then it is meaningful, but only if the 'Society' is an organized unity, not some mere aggregate.  But, Capitalism is Atomistic, and, hence, the collective of which it is the system is never more than an aggregate.  Thus, an utterance in contemporary America of "The Economy is growing" is usually either inaptly metaphorical, or unwitting propaganda.

Vitality, Self-Interest, Capitalism

Vitality entails Growth, which, in turn, entails Increase.  Thus, Profit can be an indication of Vitality.  However, Self-Interest is too vague to be understood as grounding a Profit-motive, and, its most common interpretation, Self-Preservation, connotes maintaining, not increasing.  So, Capitalism, as conceived by Smith and most of his successors, is not inherently vital.  In contrast, a drive to Self-Increase could motivate the seeking of profit, but only as an episode of personal growth, to which an increase in possession of inanimate objects is not in itself equivalent.  So, the theoretical justification for the proposition that Capitalism is more vital than Communism, a staple of American Political rhetoric in recent decades, seems lacking.

Vitality, Self-Interest, Profit

What distinguishes organic Vitality from mere Motion is Growth.  Thus, while, Elan Vital qua principle of flux, Will to Live qua principle of maintaining existence, and Will to Power qua principle of discharging strength are not Vitalistic, qua increased mobility, qua multiplying species members, and qua increase of power, correspondingly, are.  Likewise, Self-Interest qua Self-Preservation does not suffice as a Profit-motive.  Thus, any presumption by Smith that it is interchangeable with the latter is groundless, and, perhaps, constitutes a significant flaw in his concept of Capitalism.

Freedom and Vitality

Freedom can be taken to immediately indicate Vitality, not as a fundamental principle of Ethics, Political Philosophy, Psychology, or Metaphysics, but simply physiologically, i. e. as unconstrained movement.  However, unconstrained movement can also be a symptom of de-vitalization, i. e. as an expression of dissociation, e. g. the motion of a limb due to a neurological disorder.  Likewise, the rogue behavior of a member of a society can be interpreted in either way, thus demonstrating that the value of Freedom is not absolute, but, rather, is subordinate to that of Vitality.

Capitalism and Vitality

Probably the most familiar contemporary image of a de-vitalized society is totalitarian Communism, in which individual initiative is suppressed, thus stifling growth.  However, the absence of that suppression does not suffice for vitalization.  For, Vitality is a characteristic of an Organism, whereas, Capitalism is fundamentally an Atomistic system, in which collectivity can never be more than an aggregation, into which the integration of individual initiative is inherently problematic.  Furthermore, it is also susceptible to the same stagnation as any other system--degeneration into symbolic ritual, which is a mode of mechanical repetition.  As a unit, Capitalism is a Frankenstein robot, awaiting animation from elsewhere, to which an aggregate of individual initiatives is inadequate.