Overview
"""The most relevant and plausible conceptions of economic rationality, interpersonal liberty, human welfare and private-property anarchy do not conflict in theory or practice.""Using philosophy and social science, Escape from Leviathan defends this bold, non-normative thesis from contrary positions in the scholarly literature. Considering authors such as David Friedman, John Gray, R. M. Hare, Robert Nozick, Karl Popper, John Rawls, Murray Rothbard, Alan Ryan, Amartya Sen and Bernard Williams, the rationality assumptions of neoclassical and Austrian School economics are reconciled and related to liberty and welfare. A new pre-propertarian theory of interpersonal liberty as the absence of (initiated or proactively) imposed cost is argued to be libertarian. Human welfare is defended as the satisfaction of unimposed wants. Practical anarchy is simply unconstrained private property. Related topics include free will, weakness of will, the nature of moralising, intellectual property and restitution and retribution. This is a ground-breaking piece of work, functioning as an excellent introduction to libertarianism and social thought."
Full Product Details
Author: J. C. Lester
Publisher: Legend Press Ltd
Imprint: The University of Buckingham Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.00cm
, Height: 1.00cm
, Length: 23.00cm
Weight: 0.397kg
ISBN: 9781908684080
ISBN 10: 1908684089
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 04 May 2012
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
This is a political-philosophical defense of the classical-liberal compatibility thesis held by some libertarians that human liberty, human welfare, and the free market are not all at odds with each other. Adopting a critical-rationalist epistemology approach influenced by Karl Popper, the author engages primarily with philosophical critics of the compatibility thesis, as he moves among such topics as freewill, the nature of moralizing, intellectual property, and restitution and retribution through dialogue with the work of such figures as R.M. Hare, Robert Nozick, John Rawls, Murray Rothbard, and Amartya Sen.
Lester's book develops a sustained and at times fresh and surprising argument for its compatibilist conclusions. It constitutes a formidable intellectual challenge to the social democratic establishment in political theory.
Author Information
Jan Lester is a libertarian philosopher and the author of Arguments for Liberty and Dictionary of Anti-Politics (forthcoming), plus the philosophical dialogues The Naked Politician and The Philosophical Genie, as well as many scholarly and popular articles on libertarian matters.
