|Peter Boettke|
That is the title of the new book by Nicholas Capaldi and Gordon Lloyd. It is the latest addition to the book series -- New Thinking in Political Economy -- that I have been editing since the late 1990s. Check out the titles in this series including Leland Yeager's Ethics as Social Science to Mark Pennington's Robust Political Economy to Richard Wagner's Politics as a Peculiar Business. And a host of titles in-between that have made significant contributions to our understanding of the philosophy, politics and economics of a society of free and responsible individuals.* The description for Capaldi and Lloyd reads as follows:
Liberty and Equality in Political Economy is an evolutionary account of the ongoing debate between two narratives: Locke and liberty versus Rousseau and equality. Within this book, Nicholas Capaldi and Gordon Lloyd view these authors and their texts as parts of a conversation, therefore highlighting a new perspective on the texts themselves.
The authors argue that the debate initiated between Locke and Rousseau continues to define political economy today. They not only explore the strengths of each narrative, but also indicate how proponents within each will respond to their rivals. Other important views in economics and philosophy, including the works of Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek and Michael Oakeshott, are examined in conjunction with Locke; the works of the French Revolution, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the Progressives, John Maynard Keynes, John Kenneth Galbraith, John Rawls and Thomas Piketty reflect Rousseau’s divergent views. Together this provides a rich exploration of the philosophical underpinnings of modern economics and politics.
This comprehensive analysis will be of interest to philosophers, political theorists and economists who wish to join the conversation. Graduate and undergraduate students in political theory, history of economics, political philosophy and business ethics courses will also find this book valuable.
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*No need to comment on price -- yes the hardback of these volumes are expensive, but the primary market for these specialized scholarly monographs is research libraries. The volumes that have a wider reach get released in paperback versions and even e-book versions for use by individuals. So use your library card to read them, and remember all libraries have inter-library loan so even if your branch doesn't have the book in question, you can get it. Authors and editors don't have a decision in the price point that publishers choose to provide the books at in the market.
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