A review of “Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead” (audiobook)

Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead once collaborated on a book. It was a three-volume work entitled “Principia Mathematica” – not to be confused with the similarly-named work by Isaac Newton. Both Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead were mathematicians, as well as philosophers. They had a lot in common. But they would diverge significantly in their later years, in religion and politics as well as in philosophy. This audiobook covers both of them, although it may cover Bertrand Russell even more.

A review of John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty” (audiobook)

This audiobook changed my mind about utilitarianism. In my college years, I was a fan of utilitarianism. Now, I’m a little soured on it. I still have great respect for some of John Stuart Mill’s arguments, such as the need for a “marketplace of ideas,” and free competition between these ideas in that marketplace. But his utilitarian ideas, the ideas for which John Stuart Mill is best known, are no longer very appealing to me. It’s because of this audiobook that I changed my mind about these ideas, and came to see them as inadequate and unconvincing.

John Stuart Mill

A review of Thomas Hobbes’ “Leviathan” (audiobook)

In the seventeenth century, Thomas Hobbes gave the most powerful argument ever written for the necessity of some form of government. His opposition to anarchy is what motivated all of his political works, including “Leviathan.” People associate Hobbes with a very dark view of human nature, and it is small wonder that his worldview is unpopular with more starry-eyed romantics. But it is hard to escape the logical force of his anti-anarchical arguments. He believed that life without government is “a time of War, where every man is Enemy to every man.” And without this government, he believed the life of man to be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

A review of “Duns Scotus and Medieval Christianity” (audiobook)

The Scottish philosopher Duns Scotus got a bad rap after his death. The English word “dunce” comes from the name of “Duns Scotus.” By extension, so does the English phrase “dunce cap.” But there’s a lot to learn about with Duns Scotus, and from the other medieval Christian philosophers. This audiobook is marketed as “Duns Scotus and Medieval Christianity,” but the introductory narration for this audiobook calls it “Duns Scotus and Medieval Christian Philosophy.” To me, this sounds like a more appropriate title, since the focus of the audiobook is on philosophy – and, more specifically, religious philosophy.

A review of John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government” (audiobook)

John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government” is one of the greatest political works ever written. It had a massive influence on the founding documents of the United States – specifically, on our Declaration of Independence (as I show here), and on our Constitution (as I show here). Locke’s “Second Treatise” is often studied in departments of philosophy and political science. But what did Locke say in this great work? What about the lesser-known “First Treatise”? And what sorts of things was Locke trying to respond to here? These are the questions that this audiobook examines. They also try to place the “Treatises” into the fascinating context of their times.

A review of William Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England”

“The objects of the laws of England are so very numerous and extensive, that, in order to consider them with any tolerable ease and perspicuity, it will be necessary to distribute them methodically, under proper and distinct heads ; avoiding as much as possible divisions too large and comprehensive on the one hand, and too trifling and minute on the other ; both of which are equally productive of confusion.”

– Opening lines of William Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England” (1760’s), Book 1, Chapter 1

So I spent four and a half years reading Sir William Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England.” This is a four-volume work which influenced our Founding Fathers. The first volume was originally released in 1765, and the last was originally released in 1769. This is one of the best books that I’ve ever read, as I’ve tried to show in other posts. But this is the first post in which I’ve attempted to give an overview of the entire work. Thus, I will try to summarize the work for those who’ve never read it before. In doing so, I will give my reaction to the different volumes of Blackstone’s “Commentaries,” and what parts of each volume most stood out to me personally.

Title page of the original edition of the first volume of Blackstone’s “Commentaries”

A review of “David Hume” (audiobook)

“It is evident, that all the sciences have a relation, greater or less, to human nature: and that however wide any of them may seem to run from it, they still return back by one passage or another. Even Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Natural Religion, are in some measure dependent on the science of MAN; since the lie under the cognizance of men, and are judged of by their powers and faculties … consequently we ourselves are not only the beings, that reason, but also one of the objects, concerning which we reason.”

– Introduction to David Hume’s “A Treatise of Human Nature” (1739-1740), as written by the author himself

I had heard very little about David Hume, before listening to this audiobook. But after listening to this presentation, I was (and still am) convinced that he is one of the greatest philosophers of all time. His influence was massive, and he wrote on many topics – something that was more common then. For example, he wrote on history, politics, and economics as well as philosophy. But he is most famous for his original contributions to the philosophy of science, and the debate over what is the most reliable foundation of human knowledge. It was in this regard that Immanuel Kant once paid him a heartfelt compliment. Kant said that “the suggestion of David Hume was the very thing, which many years ago first awakened me from my dogmatic slumber.” (See the full quote and its citation here.)

A review of “Isaac Newton’s New Physics” (audiobook)

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

– Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke on 5 February 1675

Sir Isaac Newton revolutionized how human beings see the world … and the universe. He may have been the most influential scientist of all time. It is said that Albert Einstein kept a picture of Newton on his “study wall,” alongside his other pictures of Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell. But in Newton’s time, the word “scientist” did not exist yet, nor did the phrase “natural science.” Instead, the subject was described as “natural philosophy,” making Newton into a “natural philosopher.” In modern philosophical terms, Newton would be in the empirical tradition, although he showed the influence of some Continental Rationalists like René Descartes as well.

A review of Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (audiobook)

Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the founding feminist philosophers. Her 1792 work “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” is one of the classic works on women’s rights. It is still quoted today. But during her lifetime, she was known more for her passionate personal relationships than she was for her writing. For example, she had two ill-fated affairs (one of which produced an illegitimate child), before finally marrying the anarchist philosopher William Godwin. But unlike her eventual husband, Mary Wollstonecraft was no anarchist. She was instead an unapologetic feminist, whose works would have a lasting impact on feminist theory.

Mary Wollstonecraft

A review of “Alfred Marshall and Neoclassicism” (audiobook)

So I recently finished an audiobook about Alfred Marshall, a British economist who lived from 1842 to 1924. This audiobook was called “Alfred Marshall and Neoclassicism.” As its title implies, it's also about an economic tradition called “neoclassicism” that Marshall helped to found. I knew almost nothing about him before I listened to this audiobook about his work; although I had heard of the neoclassical school of economics before, and already had respect for it.

A review of “The Classical Economists” (audiobook)

“The statesman, who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.”

– Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” (1776), Book IV, Chapter II

A review of “Keynes and the Keynesian Revolution” (audiobook)

“But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task, if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us, that when the storm is long past, the ocean is flat again.”

– John Maynard Keynes, in “A Tract on Monetary Reform” (1923), Chapter 3

I recently listened to an audiobook about the British economist John Maynard Keynes, who lived from 1883 to 1946. It was a good audiobook, which spoke of both his academic career and his political career. For example, he did some important diplomacy for the British government, and was responsible for some of the economic provisions of the Treaty of Versailles (the treaty that ended World War One). He also helped to secure some loans from the American government, which helped to improve his country's postwar economy somewhat – despite the interest rates which we imposed on this loan.

A review of “The Wealth of Nations: Adam Smith” (audiobook)

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”

– Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” (1776), Book I, Chapter II

So I recently re-listened to an audiobook called “The Wealth of Nations: Adam Smith.” It is a modern discussion of this famous work, which is some five hours long. They do not attempt to give their listeners the entire text of “The Wealth of Nations,” since this would take far longer than five hours to do. But they do give a good summary of this famous work, and give the reader a good introduction to the book that created the new “economic science.”

Why Adam Smith is still relevant today

" ... every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain; and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest, he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it."

- Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations," Book IV, Chapter II

People still talk about Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" to this day

People still talk to this day about an economics book that was published in 1776. And though the year I'm talking about is rightfully associated with America, this book was actually published by someone in the mother country that we were then at war with. Adam Smith (the author of this book) was a Scotsman, which meant that he was also British.

John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence

Historical note: Adam Smith sympathized with the American Revolution

But his views about the American Revolution were actually fairly sympathetic to the Patriot side. He favored giving the American colonies either representation in Parliament, or independence from the mother country. (For evidence of this, see this blog post.) Because I discussed this subject at length in my other blog post referenced above, I will not go into it further here. Instead, I will now launch into my discussion of his political and economic ideas, and how they apply to our world today.

Adam Smith