Tibor R. Machan

A good philosophical critique of government policy and regulation from a libertarian, rights-based perspective. One of the author's central arguments is that instead of regulating potential misdeeds in advance, we should first legislate and then punish offenders after their offense. This retrospective view is indeed quite persuasive from the perspective on individual rights. But a philosophy of public policy can't just be moral, it has to be epistemological as well. In any case, even though show more I wasn't convinced by many of the author's conclusions I nevertheless appreciated his thorough analyses and frequent real-life examples. The book drags on a bit too long towards the end with an extended discussion of labor law, but the argumentation is tight until then so I recommend this book to all readers with a philosophical interest in public policy. show less

This is a philosophical introduction arranged according to philosophical concepts. I also found this method of approaching the topic to be friendly and welcoming because it is grounded in thoughtfulness and reason.

This is an interesting little book but not worth more than $5 given its length. Machan does a good job of explaining why people think they are right and others are wrong. However, his conclusion about how to fix the problem is naive. He posits that it is lack of education that leaves some in a state of ignorance. If only people would study the issues more they would come to better conclusions. This works in some situations on the macro level but some of the world's best "experts" disagree on show more the details of their areas of micro-expertise and no further amount of study will resolve the impasse. show less

This overview examines all of the main ideas in Ayn Rand's philosophy. The author discusses both the strengths and weaknesses of her philosophy.