Michael asks whether I might do a tutorial on Marcuse's One-Dimensional Man. That got me thinking. Perhaps I could a series of mini-tutorials on books I have found especially interesting, suggestive, or important. I am not talking about works like Kant's First Critique and Hume's Treatise, which I have done, each of which took me a very long time. I have in mind books I might be able to talk about in no more than five or six posts each, and probably fewer..
Here are a few titles that have occurred to me: One-Dimensional Man, of course. Erving Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, or perhaps his Asylums. Max Weber;s classic work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which raises very interesting questions for those of us whose thinking about capitalism is shaped by the work of Karl Marx. Maybe a very brief tutorial on Emile Durkheim's classic, Suicide, which in effect gave birth to the field of Sociology. Perhaps even David Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, if anyone really wants to understand the intellectual world-view of the classical Political Economists. And it might be interesting to do just a day or two on a little book by James O'Connor, The Fiscal Crisis of the State, which has interesting applications to our present situation.
What do people think about this idea? In most cases, I would have to take a few days to re-read the book before starting to write. These are not like the Kant and the Hume, with which I have been living for almost sixty years.
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9 comments:
anything on mannheim, maybe? i read it at your recommendation and i liked it (for the most part, anyway)
That sounds great. I'd be especially interested in Marcuse, Weber, and Ricardo.
-Mike (not the Michael who made the original suggestion).
A wonderful idea. Marcuse would be very helpful, and the Goffman books are especially rich but I think they are not much read these days.
I'll throw in my vote for Marcuse. But I'd also love Weber or Durkheim.
@Jim -- if you look back through past posts, you'll see that Robert has already done a series on Mannheim, under the title "Ideological Critique."
Can I vote for Riccardo? and Smith? I've not studied them before and I'd like to...
It does sound like a great bunch of posts.
agreed.
This sounds great. I would be very interested in the james o'connor thesis. I'd like to improve my understanding and lexicon regarding everything fiscal. I'm also looking to read something which will help me understand the global finance industry. Perhaps you have a suggestion?
all the best, Rob.
ps. yours is an important blog thanks for writing it.
I also wanted to mention I studied in history of ideas but I'm increasingly aware I need tools for the rather fast-paced discussions I have with my ever increasing (worryingly) circle of acquantainces who work for banks.
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