The Free Market Existentialist E-Book

William Irwin

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 383

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Incisive and engaging, The Free Market Existentialist proposes a new philosophy that is a synthesis of existentialism, amoralism, and libertarianism.

• Argues that Sartre’s existentialism fits better with capitalism than with Marxism
• Serves as a rallying cry for a new alternative, a minimal state funded by an equal tax
• Confronts the “final delusion” of metaphysical morality, and proposes that we have nothing to fear from an amoral world
• Begins an essential conversation for the 21^st century for students, scholars, and armchair philosophers alike with clear, accessible discussions of a range of topics across philosophy including atheism, evolutionary theory, and ethics

Leseprobe

The Free Market Existentialist

Capitalism without Consumerism

William Irwin

This edition first published 2015 © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Irwin, William, 1970–  The free market existentialist : capitalism without consumerism / William Irwin.   pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-1-119-12128-2 (pbk.)  1. Existentialism. 2. Free enterprise. 3. Capitalism. 4. Consumption (Economics) 5. Anti-realism. I. Title.  B819.I77 2015  142′.78--dc23 2015016326

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover design by Cyan Design

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Notes

Chapter 1: “Out, out, Brief Candle!”

Defining Existentialism

Concrete Individual Existence

God

Meaning

Free Will

Freedom, Responsibility, and Excuses

Anguish

Authenticity

Absorption

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 2: Like Cigarettes and Existentialism

The Early Sartre on Freedom and Responsibility

A New View of Responsibility and Capitalism

A New View of Freedom and Situation

The Critique of Dialectical Reason

Problems with Sartre's Shift in Freedom

Why Sartre Embraced Marxism

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 3: To Consume or not to Consume?

Individualism

Alienation

Authenticity and Responsibility

Consumerism and Voluntary Simplicity

Enlightened Self-interest and Prudence

Lest We Forget Nietzsche

Notes

Chapter 4: Why Nothing Is Wrong

Evolutionary Existentialism

Dealing with the Death of God

The Evolutionary Explanation of Moral Experience

Moral Anti-realism

Non-cognitivism

Moral Realism

Notes

Chapter 5: Not Going to Hell in a Handbasket

Moral Fictionalism

One Size Does not Fit All

Existential-biological Implications

Can You Live with It?

Enlightened Self-interest

Watch Your Language?

Notes

Chapter 6: What's Mine Is Mine

Property Claims and Contracts

Claim to Self-ownership

Development of Property Rights

First Appropriation

Intellectual Property

What Property Do We Deserve?

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 7: Who's Afraid of the Free Market?

Opportunity and Outcome

Who's Afraid of the Free Market?

Minimal Government

The Equal Tax

Justifying the Minimal State

Exeunt

Notes

Conclusion

Select Bibliography

Index

EULA

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

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