Beaulieu, P. Leroy. Collectivism. London: Murray. 1908. 343 pp.
"An important analysis and criticism of Collectivism. That progress has always followed the substitution of individual ownership for collective ownership is clearly brought out. The relatively simple example of collective ownership in land is first dealt with and industrial collectivism is then examined. Schaffle's Quintessence of Socialism is taken as the only available source of information on the practical application of Collectivism, and yet Leroy Beaulieu succeeds in proving its inherent incapability of performing its duties mainly by quotations from the book itself.: - PI.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Baudin, Louis
Baudin, Louis. Les Incas du Perou. Paris: Librairie de Medicis. 1947. 188 pp.
A shorter study of the same subject that professor Baudin covered so thoroughly in his L'Empire Socialist des Incas, in 1928. When the Spaniards overcame the Incas of Peru they found that a socialist society had existed there in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries more totalitarian than perhaps any other known to history. Baudin analyzes this society and shows the consequences of that total socialization, many of which have remained with the native Indian population to the present day - the complete suppression of family sentiment, the immobilization of the individual, the disappearance of initiative and foresight, the complete petrification of life, the creation of a slave mentality. The book is written with great lucidity and vigor. Professor Baudin has a final chapter discussing the lessons of the empire of the Incas for our own time.
A shorter study of the same subject that professor Baudin covered so thoroughly in his L'Empire Socialist des Incas, in 1928. When the Spaniards overcame the Incas of Peru they found that a socialist society had existed there in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries more totalitarian than perhaps any other known to history. Baudin analyzes this society and shows the consequences of that total socialization, many of which have remained with the native Indian population to the present day - the complete suppression of family sentiment, the immobilization of the individual, the disappearance of initiative and foresight, the complete petrification of life, the creation of a slave mentality. The book is written with great lucidity and vigor. Professor Baudin has a final chapter discussing the lessons of the empire of the Incas for our own time.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Liberty Studies Primer
Those desiring an overview of the literature on liberty should pick up a copy of The Libertarian Reader edited by David Boaz (The Free Press: New York, 1997, 458 pp.).
This book contains over sixty excerpts from libertarian and classical liberal authors and would make a wonderful textbook for a class on liberty. For further reading, be sure to check out Tom Palmer's essay "The Literature of Liberty" at the end of the book. His essay is the reason I went out and found Henry Hazlitt's The Free Man's Library.
This book contains over sixty excerpts from libertarian and classical liberal authors and would make a wonderful textbook for a class on liberty. For further reading, be sure to check out Tom Palmer's essay "The Literature of Liberty" at the end of the book. His essay is the reason I went out and found Henry Hazlitt's The Free Man's Library.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Wiki Smarts
I argued a little while ago that Wikipedia, even if flawed, presents a great educational opportunity. At the very least professors could assign students entries and have them search for any possible errors. This assignment, though, may not be as easy, or as fruitful, as I originally thought.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, "The Wired Campus: Right on, Wikipedia" (December 8, 2006) Thomas Chesney at the University of Nottingham has done studies that "suggests that the accuracy of Wikipedia is high."
If this is true, then it both corraborates, and follows from, the thesis of James Surowiecki's book The Wisdom of Crowds, ( Anchor Books: New York, 2004, 306 pp.)
As Surowiecki tells us, there is a "simple, but powerful, truth that is at the heart of this book: under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them" (p. xiii).
Just a thought.
BK
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, "The Wired Campus: Right on, Wikipedia" (December 8, 2006) Thomas Chesney at the University of Nottingham has done studies that "suggests that the accuracy of Wikipedia is high."
If this is true, then it both corraborates, and follows from, the thesis of James Surowiecki's book The Wisdom of Crowds, ( Anchor Books: New York, 2004, 306 pp.)
As Surowiecki tells us, there is a "simple, but powerful, truth that is at the heart of this book: under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them" (p. xiii).
Just a thought.
BK
Monday, December 04, 2006
Baudin, Louis
Baudin, Louis. L'Aube d'un Nouveau Liberalisme. Paris: Librairie de Medicis. 1953. 220 pp.
An acute, scholarly, documented, but extremely readable account of "the dawn of a new liberalism" - a liberalism resting economically on faith in the free market and politically on individual freedom within a proper framework of law and morals. On pages 144 to 150 the author presents a useful survey of the literature of "neo-liberalism" and mentions several French-language works not included in the present bibliography.
An acute, scholarly, documented, but extremely readable account of "the dawn of a new liberalism" - a liberalism resting economically on faith in the free market and politically on individual freedom within a proper framework of law and morals. On pages 144 to 150 the author presents a useful survey of the literature of "neo-liberalism" and mentions several French-language works not included in the present bibliography.
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