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This biography tells the story of one of the most important public figures of the twentieth century, Friedrich Hayek. Here is the first full biography of Friedrich Hayek, the Austrian economist who became, over the course of a remarkable career, the great philosopher of liberty in our time. In this richly detailed portrait, Alan Ebenstein chronicles the life, works, and legacy of a visionary thinker, from Hayek's early years as the scholarly son of a physician in fin-de-siecle Vienna on an increasingly wider world as an economist and political philosopher in London, New York, and Chicago. Ebenstein gives a balanced, integrated account of Hayek's extraordinary diverse body of work, from his f...
Selections from the most important works of eleven of the greatest political theorists. This compact text is comprised of chapters from the more comprehensive anthology, GREAT POLITICAL THINKERS: FROM PLATO TO THE PRESENT.
The first biography of one of the twentieth century's greatest economic thinkers, Milton Friedman. Born the son of immigrant parents, Milton Friedman went on to become a major figure during the resurgence of American conservatism. As an advisor to the Reagan administration and a widely read columnist, he played a vital role in shaping government policy and public opinion while he made headlines for his controversial views. Drawing on author Lanny Ebenstein's unprecedented access to personal archives and to Friedman himself, this is the first book to trace his life and development as an economic theorist. With a combination of intimate personal detail and fascinating exploration of economic theory, Milton Friedman: A Biography provides a revealing look at the man regarded by many as a hero of libertarianism and laissez-faire economics.
Chicagonomics explores the history and development of classical liberalism as taught and explored at the University of Chicago. Ebenstein's tenth book in the history of economic and political thought, it deals specifically in the area of classical liberalism, examining the ideas of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, and is the first comprehensive history of economics at the University of Chicago from the founding of the University in 1892 until the present. The reader will learn why Chicago had such influence, to what extent different schools of thought in economics existed at Chicago, the Chicago tradition, vision, and what Chicago economic perspectives have to say about current economic and social circumstances. Ebenstein enlightens the personal and intellectual relationships among leading figures in economics at the University of Chicago, including Jacob Viner, Frank Knight, Henry Simons, Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Aaron Director, and Friedrich Hayek. He recasts classical liberal thought from Adam Smith to the present.
While Alan Ebenstein's biography of Friedrich Hayek was the first biography of this major twentieth century thinker, the book itself was not - per se - an intellectual biography. Hayek's Journey will be the follow-up volume that will give readers an in-depth look at the evolution of his thought, the influence of the Austrian School of Economics, the roles of Wittgenstein, Freud and Kant in his thinking; his relationship with Karl Popper, etc. This will become a classic of Hayek scholarship by the author credited with writing the first biography of a man who is now widely-regarded as a seer in relationship to the course of the twentieth century.
Utilitarianism - a philosophy based on the principle of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people - has been hugely influential over the past two centuries. Beyond ethics or morality, utilitarian assumptions and arguments abound in modern economic and political life, especially in public policy. An understanding of utilitarianism is indeed essential to any understanding of contemporary society. "Understanding Utilitarianism" presents utilitarianism very much as a living tradition. The book begins with a summary of the classical utilitarianism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Subsequent chapters trace the development of the central themes of utilitarian thought over the twentieth century, covering such questions as: What is happiness? Is happiness the only valuable thing? Is utilitarianism about acts or rules or institutions? Is utilitarianism unjust, or implausibly demanding, or impractical? and Where might utilitarianism go in the future?
A number of distinguished dissidents voice their opinions on the intervention by NATO in the former Yugoslavia. The collection also provides background historical information on the conflict in the Balkans.