A Discussion of Oliver DeMille’s 1913 Chapter 12 “Free Citizens Read the Fine Print” If you are familiar with the U.S. government system at all, you know a key idea of the Founders is to use checks and balances to divide power. The Senate contends with the House. Both together…
Tag: Ethics
1913
We Are Blind to the True Value of Our Freedom
A Discussion of Oliver DeMille’s 1913 Chapter 11 “Essential Freedom” Oliver DeMille has detailed in his book how we took a turn away from freedom in 1913, and for that reason he focuses on the importance of freedom in this chapter. How can we regain our freedom if we do…
1913
We Need Good Readers and Thinkers
A Discussion of Oliver DeMille’s 1913 Chapter 9 “Solution #2: Voracious Readers and Independent Thinkers” DeMille called for “a small but committed few” to adopt his solutions to undo the damage to freedom by the 1913 turning points. (p. 89) While he called for an increase in entrepreneurship in the…
Bourgeois Equality
Adam Smith Wanted You Free to Make Your Own Decisions
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 22 “And He Formulated the Bourgeois Deal” In this fourth and final chapter exploring Adam Smith’s impact, Dr. McCloskey explores his intellectual contribution toward a cultural shift to a favorable view of the rising bourgeois class. In the past three chapters, she has been…
Bourgeois Equality
But Adam Smith’s Dismissal of the Transcendent Ultimately Led to the Sociopath Max U
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 21 “That is, He was No Reductionist, Economistic or Otherwise” Dr. McCloskey opens this third chapter on Adam Smith, noting that he did not reduce ethics to just one virtue the way the Enlightenment ultimately did, …narrowing an ethical system down to, for example,…
Bourgeois Equality
Adam Smith is not Responsible for Sociopath Max U
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 20 “Smith was not a Max U, but Rather the Last of the Former Virtue Ethicists” Now I, an economist, need to write about ethics. The fact that is a challenge is in part, Dr. McCloskey’s critique of us economists. In the last chapter,…
Bourgeois Equality
Was Adam Smith Really So Pecuniary?
In this part of the book, Dr. McCloskey is continuing to demonstrate a positive shift in attitude towards the bourgeois, esteeming the virtues that will make the coming age of commerce possible. She is now going to write four (4!) chapters about Adam Smith so get ready for a deep…
Bourgeois Equality
Good Institutions are not Enough — You Still Need Good Ideas
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 14 “Because Ethics Matters, and Changes, More” I’ll be honest. If the first few chapters read like this one, I never would have thought to do this chapter by chapter review! That is not because this chapter is bad, but it did challenge me….
Bourgeois Equality
The Right’s Story of Economic Growth is Wrong, Too
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 13 “But Neither Can Poverty Be Overcome from the Right by Implanting Institutions” OK, now McCloskey is coming for me! The textbook I use for my intro macroeconomics class has a chapter on the source of economic growth, and the quality of the institutions is one…