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The Metaphysics of Liberty

  • Book
  • © 1989

Overview

Authors:
  1. Frank Forman

    1. U.S. Department of Education, Washington, USA

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Part of the book series: Theory and Decision Library A: (TDLA, volume 6)

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
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  2. James McGill Buchanan and Individualism

    • Frank Forman
    Pages 1-30

  3. Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Collectivism

    • Frank Forman
    Pages 31-53

  4. Mario Augusto Bunge and Scientific Metaphysics

    • Frank Forman
    Pages 55-81

  5. Friedrich August von Hayek and the Mirage of Social Justice

    • Frank Forman
    Pages 83-99

  6. Ayn Rand and Natural Rights

    • Frank Forman
    Pages 101-112

  7. Raymond Bernard Cattell and Evolutionary Federalism

    • Frank Forman
    Pages 113-141

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 143-203
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Keywords

About this book

Philosophy suffers from an excess of convoluted introspection. One result is that concepts multiply unchecked. That some events have observable causes gets reified into a First Cause or, in a more secular age, to the thesis that every event is fatalistically determined. Another drawback of convoluted introspection is that tiny but crucial assumptions slip in, often unawares, with the result that densely argued counter-tomes are written in reply and no progress is made toward any kind of consensus. At bottom, subjectivity reigns. I exaggerate. Toward the other pole of the subjectivity-objectivity continuum, consensus among scientists is in fact always at a good healthy distance from compulsive unanimity. New theories replace old, and at any one time the evidence can usually be interpreted two ways. Indeed, it is possible to pile epicycle upon epicycle in the Ptolemaic system of the heavens and approximate the ellipses planets travel in the Copernican system. What cinched the case for Copernicus was not simplicity--after all alchemy is simpler than chemisty. Nor was it experiment--there were no moon shots back then. Rather it was Newton's foundations. He established a physics for the earth and the heavens alike. Earthly physics we can verify, and it does not jell with the Ptolemaic system.

Reviews

`...the book is well worth reading. It may be recommended, however, only to a reader who has a taste for unorthodox approaches. I do.'
Kyklos 44 (2) 1991

Authors and Affiliations

  • U.S. Department of Education, Washington, USA

    Frank Forman

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Metaphysics of Liberty

  • Authors: Frank Forman

  • Series Title: Theory and Decision Library A:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0901-4

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Kluwer Academic Publishers 1989

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-7923-0080-9Due: 28 February 1989

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-6894-9Published: 20 September 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-0901-4Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0921-3384

  • Series E-ISSN: 2352-2119

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: 214

  • Topics: Philosophy, general, Economics, general, Political Science

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