Defending Keynes

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) was a British economist and philospher who, to me, is the greatest of all twentieth century economists. He is certainly not as obscure as Robert Nozick, who I also have written about, but he is definitely mischaracterized by many people, even those who have studied economics.

Part of this is likely due to him not having a “one size fits all” economic philosophy, but people characterizing him as such. He wrote of his times, not of how things will always work. Regard for him spans the chasm from brilliant to short-sighted depending on who you might ask. If you ask Time magazine, though, they regarded him as one of the 100 most influential people of the twentieth century.

Robert Nozick and Economic Justice

Robert Nozick is one of the great philosophers most people do not know about. He was born in 1938, and died in 2002. The topics he wrote on ranged from existentialism to universal construction. His best known writing, however, was a book published in 1974 titled "Anarchy, State, and Utopia."

The book was so profound that Nozick was given the title of the father of libertarianism. His arguments for a totally free market economic system are certainly more compelling than those proposed by Hayek, von Mises, and Ayn Rand. Unlike those three who seemed to have a personal agenda or financial backing to push, Nozick offered his philosophy from a humanistic standpoint.

The Difference Between Communism and Marxism

The basis of the communist economic theory is often attributed to Karl Marx for his book Das Kapital. While Marx certainly defined much of what would later be heralded by those who have high regard for the communist theory, his name is often attributed to regimes that don't reflect any of the ideals Marx puts forth in his economic theory.

As a philosopher, Marx is not as highly regarded for his economic theory as he is for his predictions about how society would react when poor people amass sufficiently and have had enough of business as usual.