Freedom and Equality : The Moral Basis of Democratic Socialism

ISBN-13: 9780415571029 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 124 str.

Keith Dixon

Opis

In this reissue, first published in 1986, Keith Dixon presents a strong and persuasively argued case for democratic socialism. He defends the two great principles underpinning democratic socialism - freedom and equality.

This title, first published in 1975, contains two complimentary studies by Paul Q. Hirst: the first based on Claude Bernard’s theory of scientific knowledge, and the second concerning Emile Durkheim’s attempt to provide a philosophical foundation for a scientific sociology in The Rules of Sociological Method. The author’s primary concern is to answer the question: is Durkheim’s theory of knowledge logically consistent and philosophically viable? His principal conclusion is that the epistemology developed in the Rules is an impossible one and that its inherent contradictions are proof that sociology as it is commonly understood can never be a scientific discipline.

Spis treści

Part 1: The Idea of Freedom  1. A Stark Outline of Freedom as Absence of Constraint  2. Positive Conception of Freedom  3. Economic Freedom and Political Liberty  4. Freedom of Expression and Association: The Special Case of the Propagation of ‘Racial Hatred’  5. Paternalist Legislation.  Part 2: Equality and Fraternity  6. Inequality, Poverty and Hierarchy  7. Equality as Impartiality of Consideration  8. John Rawls’s Conception of Equality: Relegation to Third Division Status?  9. Radical Egalitarianism  10. Objections and Impediments to Radical Egalitarianism  11. Is Equality Desirable?  12. Is Inequality Inevitable?  13. The Argument from ‘Incentives’  14. Why are Systems of Inequality Relatively Stable?  15. Does Equality Imply Fraternity?  Part 3: Conclusion: Morality and Socialism  16. Morality: Substantive, Procedural and Critical  17. The Presumption of Freedom and Equality