Background
He was born at Aba, Hungary in 1925.
( This book provides a novel account of the public goods ...)
This book provides a novel account of the public goods dilemma. The author shows how the social contract, in its quest for fairness, actually helps to breed the parasitic free riding” it is meant to suppress. He also shows how, in the absence of taxation, many public goods would be provided by spontaneous group cooperation. This would, however, imply some degree of free riding. Unwilling to tolerate such unfairness, cooperating groups would eventually drift from voluntary to compulsory solutions, heedless of the fact that this must bring back free riding with a vengeance. The author argues that the perverse incentives created by the attempt to render public provision assured and fair are a principal cause of the poor functioning of organized society. Anthony de Jasay is an independent theorist living in France. Jasay believes that philosophy should be mainly, if not exclusively, about clarifying conclusions that arise from the careless use of, or deliberate misuse of, language. There are echoes here of . . . Wittgenstein's later philosophy.” His books, translated into a half dozen languages, include Justice and Its Surroundings and The State. source/credit line I. M. D. Little in Ordered Anarchy, 2007
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( "Social philosophers, of all varieties, will find their...)
"Social philosophers, of all varieties, will find their preconceptions challenged here. Anthony de Jasay does, indeed, look at justice and its surroundings 'through a different window.' And his totally original arguments prompt urges to respond, even as frustration is anticipated. Can any of the several conventional wisdoms survive the provacative criticism that this book offers?" James M. Buchanan, April 2002 Author of The State, Anthony de Jasay, has been described as one of the few genuinely original minds in modern political philosophy. He breaks new ground with Justice and Its Surroundings a new collection of trenchant essays that seek to redefine the concept of justice and to highlight the frontier between it and the surrounding issues that encroach upon it and are mistakenly associated with it. Justice and Its Surroundings discusses rival notions which treat justice as something else” as fairness, equality, or moral intuition. Jasay states, Theories of justice inspired by the idea that its function is to rectify the way of the world by redistributing the good and bad things that happen to make up people’s lots tend to be intellectually weak and vulnerable to the weapon of logic.” Jasay’s chosen mission is to promote clear reasoning rather than plead for a good cause. This straightforward and terse book analyzes the roles of collective choice, redistribution, and socialism and the claims that would enlist justice in their service. The issue of whether state authority is necessary, convenient, or neither, and the primacy of convention and contract are among the pivotal questions Jasay poses. He concludes by analyzing notions of freedom and making a clear distinction between freedoms and rights. Anthony de Jasay is an independent theorist living in France. Jasay believes that philosophy should be mainly, if not exclusively, about clarifying conclusions that arise from the careless use of, or deliberate misuse of, language. There are echoes here of . . . Wittgenstein's later philosophy.” His books, translated into a half dozen languages, include The State and Social Contract, Free Ride. source/credit line I. M. D. Little in Ordered Anarchy, 2007 Click here for a pdf file of a brochure with additional information about this title.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0865979774/?tag=2022091-20
( Anthony de Jasay is arguably one of the most independen...)
Anthony de Jasay is arguably one of the most independent thinkers and influential libertarian political philosophers of our time. Jasay challenges the reigning paradigms justifying modern democratic government, critiquing what he regards as the well-intentioned but illinformed arguments favoring the modern expansion of state power. The seventy-one articles collected in Political Economy, Concisely are exactly what the title promises: a collection of concise essays that examine the political economy of a free society. Written for the general reader and specialist alike, these essays articulate a convincing classical liberal view of the world, with a no-nonsense approach to modern economic theory. Many of the articles are collected here for the first time in book form. Jasay s aim here is to clarify basic concepts in the realm of political and economic philosophy, such as property, equality and distributive justice, public goods, unemployment, opportunity costs, and welfare. His trenchant comments on European economics and political systems provide specifics that support his more general observations of the modern world. Arranged topically, these essays reflect the wit and intellectual elegance of their author, challenging conventional wisdom in a subtle yet incisive manner. Russian and French tragicomedies are used as striking illustrations of the fact that the human mind seems to be characteristically unwilling to endorse economic common sense against the myth of the beneficial effects of government control. Such lively topics as “How to Get a Free Lunch: Just Apply for It, “Your Dog Owns Your House, “Russia Hobbling Along on Clay Feet, “Who Minds the Gap? and “Free Riding on the Euro both entertain and instruct. The topical arrangement within the sequence of the seven parts of the text provides a meaningful context for the reader and allows information to be accessed in a comprehensible manner. Political Economy, Concisely gives a jargon-free economic account of important matters in our daily lives. Its emphasis on the political rather than the ordinary business of life fills the need for revitalizing classical political economy, concisely. Anthony de Jasay is an independent theorist living in France. Jasay “believes that philosophy should be mainly, if not exclusively, about clarifying conclusions that arise from the careless use of, or deliberate misuse of, language. There are echoes here of . . . Wittgenstein's later philosophy. His books, translated into a half dozen languages, include Justice and Its Surroundings and Social Contract, Free Ride. source/credit line I. M. D. Little in Ordered Anarchy, 2007 Hartmut Kliemt is Professor of Philosophy and Economics at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/086597778X/?tag=2022091-20
(A collection of essays that examine the political economy...)
A collection of essays that examine the political economy of a free society. It aims to clarify basic concepts in the realm of political and economic philosophy, such as property, equality and distributive justice, public goods, unemployment, opportunity costs, and welfare.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FGVTMP2/?tag=2022091-20
(This book provides a novel account of the dilemma over ho...)
This book provides a novel account of the dilemma over how "public goods"--including civil order, defense, social welfare--should be provided and who should provide them. The author shows how present systems, in an attempt at fairness, actually help breed the parasitic "free riding" they were meant to suppress. He argues that, in the absence of taxation, many public goods would be provided by spontaneous group cooperation. However, this would imply some degree of free riding that would eventually lead cooperating groups away from voluntary solutions and closer to compulsory ones, bringing the problem full circle. De Jasay argues that these conflicting incentives are the principle cause of the poor functioning of organized society.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0198244746/?tag=2022091-20
(Is the state a necessity, a convenience, or neither? It e...)
Is the state a necessity, a convenience, or neither? It enforces collective choices in which some override the preferences and dispose of the resources of others. Moreover, collective choice serves as its own source of authority and preempts the space it wishes to occupy. The morality and efficacy of the result are perennial questions central to political philosophy. In Against Politics Jasay takes a closely reasoned stand, based on modern rational choice arguments, for rejecting much of mainstream thought about these matters. In the first part of the book, Excuses, he assesses the standard justification of government based consent, the power of constitutions to achieve limited government, and ideas for reforming politics. In the second part, Emergent Solutions , he explores the force of first principles to secure liberties and rights and some of the potential of spontaneous conventions for generating ordered anarchy. Written with clarity and simplicity, this powerful volume represents the central part of Jasay's recent work. Fully accessible to the general reader, it should stimulate the specialist reader to fresh thought.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415170672/?tag=2022091-20
( Anthony de Jasay is arguably one of the most influentia...)
Anthony de Jasay is arguably one of the most influential independent thinkers and libertarian political philosophers of our time. Through his writings, he challenges the reigning paradigms justifying modern democratic government, providing an antidote to the well-intentioned yet, in Jasay’s opinion, naive expansion of state power furthered by much of modern thought today. In this collection of witty and compelling essays, the author challenges what many of today’s social and political philosophers widely accept: that social injustice is identified with inequality and social justice with equality. Rather, Jasay argues that justice preempts so-called social justice, so any attempt to adorn equality in the robes of social justice is an illusion, a sleight of hand, “much as the Indian rope in the notorious trick is made to stand up skyward on its own.” The fifteen articles in this collection include both published and unpublished papers written over the years 2008 to 2012. Scholars, students, and general readers will enjoy this collection, which is written with just the right blend of serious scholarship, wit, and plain speaking. In addition, Social Justice and the Indian Rope Trick can be seen as a continuation of Jasay’s Political Philosophy, Clearly (Liberty Fund, 2010) and a companion to his book Economic Sense and Nonsense (Liberty Fund, 2014).
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( Anthony de Jasay, one of the most independent thinkers ...)
Anthony de Jasay, one of the most independent thinkers and influential libertarian political philosophers of our time, challenges the reigning paradigms justifying modern democratic government. The articles collected in Political Philosophy, Clearly delve deeply into the realm of political thought and philosophical criticism. A reader who is interested in a philosophical, yet clear, jargon-free account of such fundamental topics as the relationship between liberty and justice, the viability of limiting government, the role of property, and the possibilities of the private provision of public goods as well as the private enforcement of public rules will find reading this book rewarding. Most of the articles have been published before in a wide arrray of publications and are presented here for the first time in one volume. The discussions in this work exhibit the antistatist line of thought that Jasay consistently pursues in all his writings. For Jasay, the provision of collective goods, including the most central one of social order itself, is much less dependent on the application of fundamental coercive power by centralized authorities than generally assumed. This idea echoes arguments he develops in detail in Social Contract, Free Ride. Anthony de Jasay is an independent theorist living in France. Jasay believes that philosophy should be mainly, if not exclusively, about clarifying conclusions that arise from the careless use of, or deliberate misuse of, language. There are echoes here of . . . Wittgenstein's later philosophy.” His books, translated into a half dozen languages, include Justice and Its Surroundings and Social Contract, Free Ride. source/credit line I. M. D. Little in Ordered Anarchy, 2007 Hartmut Kliemt is Professor of Philosophy and Economics at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0865977836/?tag=2022091-20
( Economic Sense and Nonsense comprises a collection of s...)
Economic Sense and Nonsense comprises a collection of sixty essays written by Anthony de Jasay for his monthly column “Reflections from Europe,” on Liberty Fund’s Library of Economics and Liberty website. The articles span the years 2008 to 2012 and focus on economic issues of topical concern in Europe. In this collection Jasay continues his explorations of a number of themes that he developed in his earlier articles, such as the importance of property rights, the role of contracts in economic activity, the proper limitations of the state, and the attitude of intellectuals concerning the regulation of the free market. With the outbreak of the economic crisis of mid-2008, Jasay spends considerable time discussing its origins, the reactions of governments in both Europe and the United States, and the ensuing euro crisis, thus adding another dimension to his analysis of the economic woes of the industrialized world. Jasay’s analysis demonstrates that the post–World War II experiment in building welfare states in Europe has reached a crisis point that will require deep and radical changes in thinking both by intellectuals about the nature of free markets and by policy makers about the intended and unintended impact of the regulations they adopt. Anthony de Jasay is an independent theorist living in France.
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He was born at Aba, Hungary in 1925.
The original Hungarian spelling of his name is Jászay) He was educated at Székesfehérvár and Budapest, taking a degree in Agriculture.
In 1947-1948 he worked as a free-lance journalist, his activity forcing him to flee from the country in 1948. After two years in Austria, he emigrated to Australia in 1950 and took a part-time course in Economics at the University of Western Australia. Winning a Hackett Studentship, he went to Oxford in 1955 and was elected a research fellow of Nuffield College where he stayed till 1962, publishing papers in the Economic Journal, the Journal of Political Economy and other scholarly journals.
In 1962 he moved to Paris and worked there as a banker, first in an executive capacity and then on his own account, till 1979, doing investment business in several European countries and the United States.
In 1979, he retired to the Normandy coast where he still lives. While his initial interest and training were in economics, he has later turned to political philosophy, and his writings draw on both.
He has published five books, several of which have been translated into a total of six languages, as well as numerous articles, mainly in English but also in French and German. de Jasay writes Reflections from Europe, a monthly column for The Library of Economics and Liberty.
( Economic Sense and Nonsense comprises a collection of s...)
( Anthony de Jasay, one of the most independent thinkers ...)
(This book provides a novel account of the dilemma over ho...)
(Is the state a necessity, a convenience, or neither? It e...)
( Anthony de Jasay is arguably one of the most independen...)
( Anthony de Jasay is arguably one of the most influentia...)
( "Social philosophers, of all varieties, will find their...)
(A collection of essays that examine the political economy...)
( This book provides a novel account of the public goods ...)