Free Market Oracles

S Pawlett epawlett at uniserve.com
Wed Apr 28 10:26:10 PDT 1999


Jean-Paul Oulette wrote:


> Sam,
> I was looking over the titles that you suggested to Marta, and was
> a bit surprised to see Richard Dawkins', "the Selfish Gene" on the list.
> I'm only familiar with his work in biology. Have you read material of
> his on economics or political issues?
>
> Thanks,
> Jean-Paul

I threw that one in to be provocative. To my knowledge, Dawkins hasn't written anything on politics or economics though he does use bourgeois economics in his biology. He did give a ringing jacket endorsement of -The Origins of Virtue- by Matt Ridley (which I've just finished)-- a pretty libertarian book. Ridley argues stuff like the state itself causes the problem of the commons. I think the implications of Dawkins' theory especially his meth individualism and genetic reductionism is libertarian though he might deny it. As always, I'm open to challenge.

Sam Pawlett



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