[lbo-talk] Corey Robin's Reactionary Mind argument in miniature

[// ravi]

On Mar 9, 2012, at 9:55 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> P.S. The first thread on The Reactionary Mind concerned a debate on it in
> the pages of the NYRB, referring to an earlier review of the book. Now, a
> major function of book reviews is to enable the reader to decide whether or
> not he/she wants to read the book. Clearly Mark Lilla's arguments decided
> that question in the negative. Hence references to the book are irrelevant in
> this debate. It has to be grounded in that exchange of letters.

So I thought.

Of course now we are discussing Robin’s blog post that Michael pointed us to. On that, I want to add one thing: many, such as Amartya Sen, have pointed out the negative vs positive/effective freedoms issues and why the latter is more meaningful. In doing so they seem to be more directly engaging libertarians (and their sympathisers) than Robin does when he seems to take this differentiation to mean simply that negative freedoms are supported by those who benefit from such a restrictive definition, for that reason (that they benefit).

In saying all this, it is possible I am not “getting” Robin — perhaps some of his arguments are technical and I am interpreting them in layperson terms. So please assume disclaimers, apologies, etc.

	—ravi