>>> James Farmelant <farmelantj at juno.com> 12/02/99 01:08AM >>>
Posner is a Republican, a Reagan appointee, but not doctrinaire.
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Charles: He may write a lot, but he must be an autistic savant from the standpoint of political philosophy.
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The economic analysis of the law is not easily summarized--Posner has a book on it (surprise!).
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Charles: "private property" is a legal term. The rule of private property is a pretty good summary of an economic analysis of the law. It is not that mysterious.
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Posner has advocated--in theory--a very imperialistic extension of E&L, has written a book called Sex and Reason, for example, applying economic analysis to sex in ways that are clever, shocking, and wrong. He notoriously defended the proposition that the good to be maximized in economic analysis is wealth-maximization, never mind about maldistribution. There's an argument that the market will fix maldistribution, but never mind that.
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Charles: This is why enfatuation with the "brightness" of these types is dangerous. Greater Intelligence in the service of bourgeois culture is even more pernicious than ordinary intelligence.
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This is all academic theory, good clean fun in the journals. Mostly it does not infect Posner's interpretation of the law in his opinions and it does not get in the way of his real contributions to humane learning.
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Charles: I find this hard to believe. How on earth could his legal opinions be good or his learning be humane if he is a bourgeois Republican otherwise ?
CB