In December 2019 the 14th Philosophical Debate was held in JordanUniversityCollege (JUCo) in Morogoro, Tanzania (a partner university of UMCS). This time it had an economic character due to the person introducing into the debate – Dr Konrad Czernichowski, Visiting Professor at JUCo. The topic was: “Can Free Market be Fair?” The initiator and organizer of monthly debates is Dr Grzegorz Trela, Polish philosopher working in Tanzania.                                        

Economics derives from philosophy. The speaker conceptualized the concepts of “market” and “fair”, and presented assumptions of the free market and command economy. He recalled, among others, Adam Smith and Milton Friedman, presenting both the benefits and sources of failure of the free market.

In Tanzania, there is a vivid memory of Ujamaa – a kind of socialism introduced by the highly respected Julius Nyerere, the first president. That is why the debate was hot. Students (not only from Tanzania, but also from Kenya, Malawi or Nigeria) expressed their doubts as to whether the free market could be fair and presented views on capitalism based on the free market from their perspective.