When picking a book to read in academic topics, one generally jumps at the opportunity to read a popular title; a book that is commonly discussed in public settings because when people refer to it, one seems smarter for knowing the book. Ironically, the stronger readings tend to be less well known due to their inherent dense nature. The Fatal Conceit by Friedrich von Hayek is one of those books. In its simplest form, it is a summary of one economist’s lifelong work. It is Hayek’s last proclamation to the world; expressing his views on the contradictions in human reasoning. From this book, Hayek seems to emphasize three points. One, human ethics have developed over the centuries from trial and error; somewhat similar to natural selection. Two, through trial and error humans have found it the most effective, to distribute goods in a competitive market, however, a completely individualistic system is leads to savagery and is unsustainable. As a result humans have constructed a social order to live by, which balances the tensions between these naturally developed ethics and necessary competition. The first point that Hayek emphasizes is set around the history of civilizations and how mankind developed ethics, morals, and order. …show more content…
While it was very well planned and hit all the points intended; the overall feel for the book was an exhausting read. Every paragraph is packed with new information and even though the points are organized there is just so much to take in with each statement. The density of his work may be one reason why Keynesian thought is so well known and Hayek’s ideas are not. Most people tend to buy into simplistic ideas more often than complex burdensome ones. This may also just be a fundamental attribution error, and Hayek’s work may not be taught as much simply due to human randomness. In the long run, I enjoyed reading the book and learning from it. It was a hard read however, it was worth every
In this paper I will be discussing George P. Fletcher’s “paradigm of reciprocity”. I will discuss what two issues the paradigm specifies and how they are treated by the paradigm. I will assess how the treatment of the issue is different from that of the wealth maximization approach. I will also look at how the paradigm makes sense of both fault and strict liability. Lastly in this paper I will discuss why I agree with Fletcher’s stance and a criticism one might have for it.
“The Perils of Indifference” In April, 1945, Elie Wiesel was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp after struggling with hunger, beatings, losing his entire family, and narrowly escaping death himself. He at first remained silent about his experiences, because it was too hard to relive them. However, eventually he spoke up, knowing it was his duty not to let the world forget the tragedies resulting from their silence. He wrote Night, a memoir of his and his family’s experience, and began using his freedom to spread the word about what had happened and hopefully prevent it from happening again.
Hayek, F.A. Individualism and Economic Order. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago and London. 1948.
From the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century major historical events such as the Industrial revolution had occurred. During this period of time Europe was switching into an economy that is focused mostly in the industrial field. From this emerged two social-economic classes, the rich bourgeoisie and the poor proletariats. Furthermore tension brewed from the two groups since the bourgeoisie source of wealth was from the exploitation of the proletariats. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ book The Communist Manifesto responded to the situation and created a vision of an equal communist society. The Communist Manifesto was defined by the abolishment of the bourgeois sovereign rule that followed to a revolution against capitalism
Simon Wiesenthal life and legends were extraordinary, he has expired people in many ways and was an iconic figure in modern Jewish history. Szyman Wiesenthal (was his real named and later named Simon) was born on December 31 in Buczacz, Galicia (which is now a part of Ukraine) in 1908. When Wiesenthal's father was killed in World War I, Mrs. Wiesenthal took her family to Vienna for a brief period, returning to Buczacz when she remarried. The young Wiesenthal graduated from the Humanistic Gymnasium (a high school) in 1928 and applied for admission to the Polytechnic Institute in Lvov. Turned away because of quota restrictions on Jewish students, he went instead to the Technical University
From this comes the first of the Hobbes argument that when we have the sort of rough equality in physical and intellectual strength, there is an equality of hope in attaining our ends. Hobbes thinks that part of what we do in a social contract is to try and overcome our human tendencies, which are competition, diffidence and glory. For instance, “competition arises because two people may want the same thing, which they cannot both have, perhaps, the produce of a certain field, sufficient to support one person through the winter but not two(xiii,3), as according to Hobbes. After all, that is what mainly takes place in the book “Hunger Games”, where contestants from varying districts compete for their lives so they can survive. This will be followed
Sigmund Freud, a psychologist and influential thinker of the early twentieth century, enumerates the fundamental conflicts between civilization and the individual in his writing, Civilization and its Discontents. He asserts that an individual’s primary discontent originates from civilization’s demand for conformity contrary to the individual’s search for instinctual freedom. Freud continues and postulates that the demands and laws forced onto the individual create the “super ego.” This super ego puts limits on one’s intrinsic desires and restricts them from pursuing different opportunities of happiness. Similar to Freud’s assessment of civilization, Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher and cultural critic, illustrates a similar evaluation on communal living in his major work, On the Genealogy of Morals. In this writing, Nietzsche begins to examine the origin and meaning of different moral concepts, starting with “good”, “evil”, and “bad.” In this process he states that noblemen defined these terms and that the people around them are you talking about the noblemen or people in general? influenced and ultimately determined what was “bad” or “good.” While both thinkers addressed several different concepts, they had similar views on the influence of civilization and the unintentional effects it had on the individuals living in that society. While both Freud and Nietzsche discuss the pow...
“I do not like money, money is the reason we fight.” Karl Marx. A “free market” economy is based on competition; it is the essence that keeps the momentum of the exchange process. Capitalism allows for a variety of employment options, but the class system still exists, middle and lower class individuals struggle to support themselves and their families because of this wild goose paper chase. The overwhelming desire for money may manifest dangerous ambitions within those at the bottom and the top, people will kill, steal or even enslave to gain more of that precious paper. This struggle is correlated with the idea of competition, but considering all forms of natural competition, there always must be an entity atop the pyramid. The pinnacle of the monetary obelisk is vacated by the most affluent and selfish megalomaniacs our society has concieved, these individuals are those that control the flow of money, therefore the instigation of inflation, a...
The books Brave New World by Aldus Huxley and Anthem by Ayn Rand are both valuable twentieth-century contributions to literature. Both books explore the presence of natural law in man and propose a warning for what could happen when man's sense of right and wrong is taken from him. In this essay, I hope to show how these seemingly unrelated novels both expound upon a single, very profound, idea.
... by greed, then humanity would not stand a chance at progressing. In her article “Group Minds,” author Doris Lessing’s general thesis is that humanity is “now in possession of a great deal of hard information about ourselves, but we do not use it to improve our institutions and therefore our lives” (653). By not utilizing everything we have learned throughout history, we are doing ourselves and others a great injustice.
Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were 17th and 18th-century philosophers with very similar, yet contrasting theories about human nature. Whereas Hobbes created his philosophy based on the idea that humans are naturally competitive, violent, and selfish, Rousseau’s philosophy is based on his opinion that man is good by nature, but corrupted by society. Hobbes ideas may be viewed as quite cynical, especially when compared to Rousseau’s more idealistic ideas. Both philosophers discussed ideas relating to a ‘state of nature’ and what would happen to man once placed in a ‘state of nature’ stripped of outside influences. Also, both philosophers discussed their ideas about what exactly morality and ethics are and why humans act in the way that
The societies of earth are involved in an infinite cycle that affects all people. Everyone strives to be the best people possible and the journey to achieving that feeling involves making easy and difficult choices based on individual, social, and environmental conditions. The obligations place upon us by our humanness gives great influence in our personal choices. Ultimately, the conclusions that can be drawn to our choices come from ethics. What may be right and sound to one person could be immoral and wrong to another person. It is these differences in opinion that helps shape our worldviews. The widest perspective is most ideal to give fair assessments to the people, places, and events that exist in this world.
Bias was incorporated to convey one side of story to argue about the consequences of human envy, arrogance, and greed. This gives makes the audience curious about the true nature of humans and gives them provoking thoughts about how humans act instinctively today. The Author wants to change people’s thoughts and opinions about decision making and give them a way to fully understand that their decisions big or small are an essential factor that shapes the person you are today and
Perception of a solution is a key role in solving a problem. Karl Marx’s perception on a solution to make our world equal, holds the question of whether or not his ideal solution is ethical. His solution to world hunger, poverty, and hierarchies is great theoretically. Though, making it so we are all brought down to the same level knowledge is not ethical. When someone is smarter than another, t...
...ters to help the reader relate more to the problem that he will address. This is a strength as he is able to capture the audience and allow them to relate to his stories and compare them to what has happened throughout the lead-up to the crisis and beyond. I would defiantly recommend readers to indulge themselves in this fantastic book as it is an essential read for those who are interested in the housing markets in the US, housing credits, or to find out what key fault lines led to the disastrous crisis in 2008. With outlining his perspective and views on why the global crisis went full steam he was able to defend his case convincingly and also offered moral guidelines to fix the problems with the economy. Overall, as an economist, his overall thinking and responsible way of addressing the problems is ultimately impressive and superior to that of other economists.