Skip to main content

Skepticism and Freedom

A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism

With this book, Richard A. Epstein provides a spirited and systematic defense of classical liberalism against the critiques mounted against it over the past thirty years. One of the most distinguished and provocative legal scholars writing today, Epstein here explains his controversial ideas in what will quickly come to be considered one of his cornerstone works.

He begins by laying out his own vision of the key principles of classical liberalism: respect for the autonomy of the individual, a strong system of private property rights, the voluntary exchange of labor and possessions, and prohibitions against force or fraud. Nonetheless, he not only recognizes but insists that state coercion is crucial to safeguarding these principles of private ordering and supplying the social infrastructure on which they depend. Within this framework, Epstein then shows why limited government is much to be preferred over the modern interventionist welfare state.

Many of the modern attacks on the classical liberal system seek to undermine the moral, conceptual, cognitive, and psychological foundations on which it rests. Epstein rises to this challenge by carefully rebutting each of these objections in turn. For instance, Epstein demonstrates how our inability to judge the preferences of others means we should respect their liberty of choice regarding their own lives. And he points out the flaws in behavioral economic arguments which, overlooking strong evolutionary pressures, claim that individual preferences are unstable and that people are unable to adopt rational means to achieve their own ends. Freedom, Epstein ultimately shows, depends upon a skepticism that rightly shuns making judgments about what is best for individuals, but that also avoids the relativistic trap that all judgments about our political institutions have equal worth.

A brilliant defense of classical liberalism, Skepticism and Freedom will rightly be seen as an intellectual landmark.

320 pages | 6 x 9 | © 2003

Studies in Law and Economics

Economics and Business: Economics--General Theory and Principles

Law and Legal Studies: Legal Thought

Political Science: Political and Social Theory

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Classical Liberalism?
1: Two Forms of Skepticism
2: The System of Liberty
3: Moral Relativism
4: Moral Incrementalism
5: Conceptual Skepticism
6: A Preference for Preferences
7: Metapreferences, Relative Preferences, and the Prisoner’s Dilemma Game
8: Behavioral Anomalies
9: Cognitive Biases
Conclusion: Staying the Course
Notes
Table of Cases
Index

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press