A third concept of liberty : judgment and freedom in Kant and Adam Smith

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Bibliographic Information

A third concept of liberty : judgment and freedom in Kant and Adam Smith

Samuel Fleischacker

Princeton University Press, 1999

  • : hbk
  • : pbk

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [279]-327) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: hbk ISBN 9780691002651

Description

This text explores a third definition of liberty. In Samuel Fleischacker's view, Kant and Adam Smith think of liberty as a matter of acting on our capacity for judgement, thereby differing from those who tie it to the satisfaction of our desires and those who translate it as action in accordance with reason or "will". Integrating the thought of Kant and Adam Smith, and developing his own stand through readings of the "Critique of Judgement" and "The Wealth of Nations" Fleischacker shows how different acting on one's best judgement is from acting on one's desires - how. in particular, good judgment, as opposed to mere desire, can flourish only in favourable social and political conditions. At the same time every individual must do for him or herself, hence not something that philosophers and politicians who reason better can do in everyones stead. For this reason advocates of a liberty based on judgment are likely to be more concerned than are libertarians to make sure that government provides people with conditions for the use of their liberty, such as excellent standards of education, health care and unemployment insurance, while at the same time promoting a less paternalistic view of government than most of the movements associated for the past 30 years with the political left.
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780691004464

Description

Taking the title of his book from Isaiah Berlin's famous essay distinguishing a negative concept of liberty connoting lack of interference by others from a positive concept involving participation in the political realm, Samuel Fleischacker explores a third definition of liberty that lies between the first two. In Fleischacker's view, Kant and Adam Smith think of liberty as a matter of acting on our capacity for judgment, thereby differing both from those who tie it to the satisfaction of our desires and those who translate it as action in accordance with reason or "will." Integrating the thought of Kant and Smith, and developing his own stand through readings of the Critique of Judgment and The Wealth of Nations, Fleischacker shows how different acting on one's best judgment is from acting on one's desires--how, in particular, good judgment, as opposed to mere desire, can flourish only in favorable social and political conditions. At the same time, exercising judgment is something every individual must do for him- or herself, hence not something that philosophers and politicians who reason better than the rest of us can do in our stead. For this reason advocates of a liberty based on judgment are likely to be more concerned than are libertarians to make sure that government provides people with conditions for the use of their liberty--for example, excellent standards of education, health care, and unemployment insurance--while at the same time promoting a less paternalistic view of government than most of the movements associated for the past thirty years with the political left.

Table of Contents

PrefaceAbbreviationsCh. 1Introduction3Pt. IThe Nature of Judgment21Ch. 2Aesthetic Judgment23Ch. 3Moral Judgment32Ch. 4Judgment and Freedom64Pt. IIThe Politics of Judgment89Ch. 5Proper Pleasures91Ch. 6The Wealth of Nations (I): Judgment120Ch. 7The Wealth of Nations (II): Virtue and Independence140Ch. 8The Wealth of Nations (III): Helping the Poor161Ch. 9Kant's Politics, Rawls's Politics (I): The Public Use of Judgment184Ch. 10Kant's Politics, Rawls's Politics (II): Talent, Industry, and Luck215Pt. IIIThe Freedom of Judgment241Ch. 11A Third Concept of Liberty243Notes279Index329

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