Social Justice and the Indian Rope Trick

by Anthony de Jasay, Hartmut Kliemt (Editor)

Overview

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The fifteen articles in this collection include both published and unpublished papers written over the years 2008 to 2012.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).

Please note: This title is available as an ebook for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614872726
Publisher:	Liberty Fund, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Series:	The Collected Papers of Anthony de Jasay
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	719,672
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Preface Anthony de Jasay ix

Part 1 Is Equal Superior?

1 Equalities, the Claims of Social Justice, and the Indian Rope Trick 3

2 Ranking Worlds by Words: A Case for Inequality 33

3 Against Poverty and the Misuse of Language That Helps to Perpetuate It 41

4 The "Justice" That Overrules the Rules of Justice 49

Part 2 Inadvertent Surrender, Real Politics, And Rational Man

1 The Inadvertent Surrender: Spreading the State, Shrinking Liberty 57

2 Presumption of Liberty 90

3 On Rightsism 93

4 Human Rights and Wrongs: Misnomers, Illusions, Tensions 105

Part 3 Contractarianism and its Surroundings

1 Conduct and Contract 117

2 Ordered Anarchy and Contractarianism 127

3 Inspecting the Foundations of Liberalism 133

Part 4 Errors and Omissions

1 Suckers, Punters, Pathbreakers: When Homo Oeconomicus Is Selflessly Selfish 153

2 Who Will Guard the Guardians? 164

3 Can Opportunity Be Equal? A Note on False Pretenses in Equality Discourse 173

4 Morals by Agreements 178

Index 181