Scott Lang, my good friend and metaphorical mirror-holder eased back into his chair as I summoned the courage to attack him with this question. Right in tempo, he spun the question back around to me.

“That’s an esoteric question, isn’t it?” He brought his coffee to his lips and responded to my bemused look,” Profit is necessary in every form, be it monetary or human. So the question on whether profit is moral or immoral loses any point because you always need it.”

He got up, took the last swig of coffee, and left me to dwell upon his words.

Well, rational humans do determine how to maximize their profit using logical reasoning (profit defined as “an advantage, benefit, or gain”). While every reason differs, they are constantly employed. Without profit, rational humans would be left with no reason to make decisions. There will be no reason to wake up, go to work, or even eat. Human beings would no longer exist because there would be no reason to exist, and with that in mind, Scott’s point becomes clear.

Profit plays a necessary part of humanity, but this does not excuse all profit from careful scrutiny, especially cases of unhealthy profit. Before I could look into these situations, though, I needed to clear up the cloud cover around profit itself. For the answer to that question, I thought back to my brief conversation with Scott.