Scott R. Sehon

Socialism (eBook, ePUB)

A Logical Introduction

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Tackling perhaps the most contentious and socially urgent political movement of the last century, Scott R. Sehon lays bare the arguments for and against socialism, investigating their logical scaffolding and revealing exactly what is assumed in charged and often vital discussions of labor conditions and human well-being. Sehon provides a straightforward presentation and logical analysis of the arguments to make very clear which arguments work, and which do not. While the book aims to be fair to the arguments from both sides, Sehon ultimately sides with socialism and maintains that the arguments indicate that we should move in a strongly democratic socialist direction. Nearly every contemporary counterclaim to socialism is addressed and interrogated, and even the more dubious arguments in favor of socialism are taken up. Naturally, the defender of capitalism will deny these premises and claim that capitalism better promotes human well-being; many capitalists also claim that socialism does violate individual rights, particularly property rights. The bulk of the book sorts through the data and arguments on both sides, considering arguments from philosophers such as G.A. Cohen, Ronald Dworkin, David Schweickart, John Tomasi, and Jonathan Wolff, as well as prominent economists such as Milton Friedman and F.A. Hayek. The reader of Socialism will find a clear introduction to one of the most crucial social movements of our time.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 13. Februar 2024
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780197753361
• Artikelnr.: 69901445

Autorenporträt

Scott Sehon is the Joseph E. Merrill Professor of Philosophy at Bowdoin College, where he has been teaching for over 30 years. He is the author of Free Will and Action Explanation: a Non-Causal, Compatibilist Account (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Teleological Realism: Mind, Agency, and Explanation (MIT Press, 2005), and has appeared in such journals as American Philosophical Quarterly and Philosophical Issues. He has also written for Jacobin, Mises Institute: Power & Market Blog, and Aeon.

Inhaltsangabe

* Acknowledgments
* Part I. Introduction
* 1. Logic and Arguments
* Argument Ad Hominem
* What Is an Argument?
* A Sample: Socialism and Starvation
* A Look Ahead
* 2. Defining "Socialism"
* Don't Argue about Words
* It All Comes in Degrees
* The Classical View
* Some Rough Distinctions
* Scandinavia and Democratic Socialism
* 3. Moral Philosophy Background and The Master Arguments
* The Fundamental Question
* A Moral Framework
* Promoting Well-Being
* Rights
* Part II. Rights-Based Arguments
* 4. Does Socialism Violate Rights?
* Socialism and Political Rights
* Socialism and Economic Rights
* Self-ownership and the Nonaggression Principle
* Self-authorship and Economic Rights
* 5. Does Capitalism Violate Rights?
* Extraction of Surplus Value: The Basic Idea
* Initial attempts at an argument
* Filling the gap in the argument: the exploitation principle
* Final version of the argument
* Evaluating premise (2) of Capitalism Exploits: Is the Distribution
Undeserved?
* Evaluating premise (1) of Capitalism Exploits: Is It Unfair?
* Part III. Socialism and Human Well-being
* 6. The Progress Argument
* Empirical Evidence and The Master Arguments
* Humanity's Spectacular Progress
* Capitalism as the Explanation?
* Correlation Versus Causation and the Capitalist Argument
* Testing the Capitalist Hypothesis: Data from 20th Century Communism
* Science and Technology as the Real Explanation
* 7. Redistribution: Inequality and Envy
* The Pettiness of Envy
* Diminishing Marginal Utility Versus Incentives
* The Empirical Evidence: Optimal Rates of Taxation
* Inequality Is Toxic
* 8. Collective Control: The Democracy Argument
* Empirical Correlations: Scandinavia Again
* Community versus Competitiveness
* Why Is Democracy Good? The All Affected Principle
* Democracy and Traditional Governmental Functions
* Democracy and Economic Decisions
* Market Socialism
* Markets and the Capitalist Reply to The Democracy Argument for
Socialism
* Part IV. Capitalism and Human Well-being
* 9. The Case for Markets
* Hayek: The Better Information Argument
* Friedman: The Better Incentives Argument
* 10. Market Failures I: Public Goods
* The Argumentative Situation
* Hayek and the Diffuse Benefit of Some Services
* Applications
* 11. Market Failures II: Monopolies and Monopsonies
* Monopolies
* Where Shopping Is Impractical
* Monopsony and Labor
* "Government is not the solution"?
* 12. Market Failures III: Neighborhood Effects and Climate Change
* Negative Externalities and Neighborhood Effects
* Other Examples
* The No-brainer? Future Generations and climate change
* 13. Conclusion
* A Brief Annotated Selection of Suggested Readings