Ignorance and Liberty

Ignorance and Liberty PDF Author: Lorenzo Infantino
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134450273
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Those with a belief in open society base the demand for liberty on the recognition of human ignorance; we need to be free because we are ignorant and fallible. Free social cooperation permits us to mobilize our knowledge and develop methods of discovery through which we can explore the unknown and continually correct our errors. To assent to free cooperation is to accept critical discussion, democracy and the market and in this way we are able to increase our rationality and further political and economic development. Improvement in the conditions of our lives, therefore, does not come from the omniscience attributed to some enlightened legislator or planner. Ignorance and Liberty examines how the market is a place which liberates us from this idea of a privileged source of knowledge. The market is not only a place where goods are exchanged but also where different philosophical ideas and religious beliefs must co-habit, opening up new horizons and undermining the sense of an absolute that prevails in a closed world.

Ignorance and Liberty

Ignorance and Liberty PDF Author: Lorenzo Infantino
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134450273
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 350

Get Book Here

Book Description
Those with a belief in open society base the demand for liberty on the recognition of human ignorance; we need to be free because we are ignorant and fallible. Free social cooperation permits us to mobilize our knowledge and develop methods of discovery through which we can explore the unknown and continually correct our errors. To assent to free cooperation is to accept critical discussion, democracy and the market and in this way we are able to increase our rationality and further political and economic development. Improvement in the conditions of our lives, therefore, does not come from the omniscience attributed to some enlightened legislator or planner. Ignorance and Liberty examines how the market is a place which liberates us from this idea of a privileged source of knowledge. The market is not only a place where goods are exchanged but also where different philosophical ideas and religious beliefs must co-habit, opening up new horizons and undermining the sense of an absolute that prevails in a closed world.

Democracy and Political Ignorance

Democracy and Political Ignorance PDF Author: Ilya Somin
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804789312
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
One of the biggest problems with modern democracy is that most of the public is usually ignorant of politics and government. Often, many people understand that their votes are unlikely to change the outcome of an election and don't see the point in learning much about politics. This may be rational, but it creates a nation of people with little political knowledge and little ability to objectively evaluate what they do know. In Democracy and Political Ignorance, Ilya Somin mines the depths of ignorance in America and reveals the extent to which it is a major problem for democracy. Somin weighs various options for solving this problem, arguing that political ignorance is best mitigated and its effects lessened by decentralizing and limiting government. Somin provocatively argues that people make better decisions when they choose what to purchase in the market or which state or local government to live under, than when they vote at the ballot box, because they have stronger incentives to acquire relevant information and to use it wisely.

Light and Liberty

Light and Liberty PDF Author: Robert M. S. McDonald
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 081393236X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
Although Thomas Jefferson's status as a champion of education is widely known, the essays in Light and Liberty make clear that his efforts to enlighten fellow citizens reflected not only a love of learning but also a love of freedom. Using as a starting point Jefferson's conviction that knowledge is the basis of republican self-government, the contributors examine his educational projects not as disparate attempts to advance knowledge for its own sake but instead as a result of his unyielding, almost obsessive desire to bolster Americans' republican virtues and values. Whether by establishing schools or through broader, extra-institutional efforts to disseminate knowledge, Jefferson's endeavors embraced his vision for a dynamic and meritocratic America. He aimed not only to provide Americans with the ability to govern themselves and participate in the government of others but also to influence Americans to remake their society in accordance with his own principles. Written in clear and accessible prose, Light and Liberty reveals the startling diversity of Jefferson's attempts to rid citizens of the ignorance and vice that, in the view of Jefferson and many contemporaries, had corroded and corrupted once-great civilizations. Never wavering from his faith that "knowledge is power," Jefferson embraced an expansive understanding of education as the foundation for a republic of free and responsible individuals who understood their rights and stood ready to defend them.

Crusade Against Ignorance

Crusade Against Ignorance PDF Author: Thomas Jefferson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description


A Theory of Justice

A Theory of Justice PDF Author: John RAWLS
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674042603
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls's view, so much of the extensive literature on Rawls's theory refers to the first edition. This reissue makes the first edition once again available for scholars and serious students of Rawls's work.

Ignorance, Arrogance, and Apathy

Ignorance, Arrogance, and Apathy PDF Author: Wayne L. Shields
Publisher: Xulon Press
ISBN: 9781498455183
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Have "We the People" of the United States become the most manipulated people in the world? Do our Government, Mass Media, and Education System teach us a revised history that causes us to believe the scenarios of U.S. history they want us to believe? Whether by omission or directly using lies or revised history have "We the People" lost the true depth and meaning of History as it actually happen? Are we now believing the false narratives we have been told all our lives? Do we no longer understand the sacrifices made by the Founding Fathers and the many who have died for our freedom throughout the history of these United States of America? Can we actually tell the true story and have it told to all the People or will the Government, Mass Media and our Education System refuse to broadcast or teach it? Are we being taught or indoctrinated? Are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness no more real than Santa Claus? Are those in Government buying Elections by Government give away programs? Or are those in Government winning elections by allowing "free benefits" to illegal residents? Is Government creating right for some people and neglecting those of other people? If the Government is the one creating "rights" is it true they can also take away our "rights"? Are "We the People" going to listen to a Government that lies, cheats and steals our "Rights" away? Are "We the People" going to listen to someone in Government, the Media, or Academia telling us what the Founding Fathers meant by what they said or are "We the People," smart enough to read it and understand the meaning for ourselves? Does the Constitution say, "We the People" are to be the sovereign power of these United States? If so, is it the Government who is in rebellion and not the "We the People"?"

Illiberal Justice

Illiberal Justice PDF Author: David Lewis Schaefer
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826216846
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
"Schaefer challenges John Rawls's practically sacrosanct status among scholars of political theory, law, and ethics by demonstrating how Rawls's teachings deviate from the core tradition of American constitutional liberalism toward libertarianism"--Provided by publisher.

Light and Liberty

Light and Liberty PDF Author: Thomas Jefferson
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0812974328
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Were Thomas Jefferson alive to read this book, he would recognize every sentence, every elegant turn of phrase, every lofty, beautifully expressed idea. Indeed, every word in the book is his. In an astonishing feat of editing, Eric S. Petersen has culled the entirety of Thomas Jefferson’s published works to fashion thirty-four original essays on themes ranging from patriotism and liberty to hope, humility, and gratitude. The result is a lucid, inspiring distillation of the wisdom of one of America’s greatest political thinkers. From his personal motto—“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God”—to his resounding discourse on “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson defined the essential truth of the American spirit. In the essays that Petersen has crafted from letters, speeches, and public documents, Jefferson’s unique moral philosophy and vision shine through. Among the hundreds of magnificent sentences gathered in this volume, here are Jefferson’s pronouncements on Gratitude: “I have but one system of ethics for men and for nations— to be grateful, to be faithful to all engagements and under all circumstances, to be open and generous.” Religion: “A concern purely between our God and our consciences.” America’s national character: “It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate; to surmount every difficulty with resolution and contrivance.” Public debt: “We shall all consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves.” War: “I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.” In stately measured cadences, these thirty-four essays provide timeless guidance on leading a spiritually fulfilling life. Light and Liberty is a triumphant work of supreme eloquence, as uplifting today as when Jefferson first set these immortal sentences on paper.

Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty

Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty PDF Author: Richard Price
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description


Power Without Knowledge

Power Without Knowledge PDF Author: Jeffrey Friedman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190877170
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
Technocrats claim to know how to solve the social and economic problems of complex modern societies. But as Jeffrey Friedman argues in Power without Knowledge, there is a fundamental flaw with technocracy: it requires an ability to predict how the people whom technocrats attempt to control will act in response to technocratic policies. However, the mass public's ideas-the ideas that drive their actions-are far too varied and diverse to be reliably predicted. But that is not the only problem. Friedman reminds us that a large part of contemporary mass politics, even populist mass politics, is essentially technocratic too. Members of the general public often assume that they are competent to decide which policies or politicians will be able to solve social and economic problems. Yet these ordinary "citizen-technocrats" typically regard the solutions to social problems as self-evident, such that politics becomes a matter of vetting public officials for their good intentions and strong wills, not their technocratic expertise. Finally, Friedman argues that technocratic experts themselves drastically oversimplify technocratic realities. Economists, for example, theorize that people respond rationally to the incentives they face. This theory is simplistic, but it gives the appearance of being able to predict people's behavior in response to technocratic policy initiatives. If stripped of such gross oversimplications, though, technocrats themselves would be forced to admit that a rational technocracy is nothing more than an impossible dream. Ranging widely over the philosophy of social science, rational choice theory, and empirical political science, Power without Knowledge is a pathbreaking work that upends traditional assumptions about technocracy and politics, forcing us to rethink our assumptions about the legitimacy of modern governance.