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Chapter 2 Political Philosophy: Taking a Theorem to Keep From Getting Thick

PLEASE NOTE: This book is currently in draft form; material is not final.

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”

John Maynard Keynes

In this chapter, you will learn about:

  • What a theory is
  • Some important political philosophers and what they believed
  • Three big ideas about how society should be organized, and the assumptions that lie beneath them