From time to time an author or thinker will create a work, often in the Utopian genre, which lays out a detailed design of an ideal society. Fourier’s phalanestères are one example: they are described as the structure of a social unit, all the way down to the number of inhabitants and to the shape […]
Most libertarians would say that capitalism is dead in America. Many on the left would say that it is still raging. It’s ultimately a matter of what you define as “capitalism” (voluntary exchange vs. large corporation mercantilism), but we can be sure that the voluntary exchange aspect is killed day by day, and has been
Anti-laissez-faire Ideas since the Founding: 1870-1918 Read More »
“…The moment a people allows itself to be represented, it is no longer free: it no longer exists.” A “pure democracy” interpretation of Rousseau could use this statement about representatives as evidence that The Social Contract is a manifesto of radical self-government. If we hold as an axiom from this interpretation that a person under
Rousseau on Represented Sovereignty in Democracy Read More »
[Written for a Problems of Democracy” course to answer the prompt: “Is democracy an end in itself or is it a means to an end (or ends)? If it is an end in itself, what makes it so? If it serves other ends, what are they? If it serves other ends, is it essential (indispensable
Is Democracy an End in Itself? Read More »
At the foundation of modern moral justifications for the establishment of a coercive state is the voluntarization of that coercive power – in other words, the implication that obedience to governments is in some way chosen and thus morally binding. The philosophical construct that has come to embody this approach is described by the term
Summary and Critique of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract Read More »
In Politics Aristotle argues that to lead a flourishing life, it is imperative that all free men embrace their responsibility in the political system. Consistent with this theory is the notion, as described by our political philosopher, that inherent human nature holds men to the conviction that they should participate in governmental proceedings, as he
Aristotle on the Flourishing Life in Politics and Nichomachean Ethics Read More »
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were relative contemporaries in philosophy, so it is no surprise that their comparison has become something of a cliché (hence this article?). While both philosophers use language couched in the tradition of natural law, they both advocate radically different views on human nature and ideal governance, as will be seen.
Locke vs. Hobbes on the Social Contract, Nature, and Civil Society Read More »
In the United States today, the public debates about healthcare, Social Security, and the standard of living have reached a new level of prominence. While some of these dialogues pertain to already-existing, but purportedly failing institutions like Social Security and the minimum wage, more than ever the climate of public opinion states, “government ought to
Rawls vs. Nozick: Rawls’ Theory of Justice and Some Objections Read More »