An examination of the political ideas behind the Declaration of Independence. Becker examines the theory of natural rights, the view the colonists had of their place in the British Empire, and the literary qualities of the Declaration.
John Adams got to know Mably when he was in Paris in the early 1780s. Mably wrote a noted history of France and was keen to write a book on the American Revolution. He spoke about this to Adams who encouraged the project. In his Defence of the Constitutions Adams noted that Turgot, Price, and Mably had all written important critiques of the US Constitution to which Adams replied in that work.
Part of a larger but incomplete magnum opus in which Bacon demonstrates the use of the scientific method to discover knowledge about the natural world. Many of the examples in this volume concern the nature of heat and energy.
Hume’s first major work of philosophy published in 1739 when he was just 29 yeas old. It is made up of three books entitled “Of the Understanding”, “Of the Passions”, and “Of Morals”. In the book he uses his sceptical rationalism to create an ambitious “science of man”.
The greatest obstacle to rule of law in our time, contends the author of this thought-provoking work, is the problem of overlegislation. In modern democratic societies, legislative bodies are increasingly usurping functions that were and should be exercised by individuals or groups rather than government. The result is an unwieldy surfeit of laws and regulations that by their sheer volume stifle individual freedom. For a reflection on the enduring relevance of Leoni’s work, see the Liberty Classic Bruno Leoni and the Search for Certainty in Law, by Alberto Mingardi.
Lieber discusses the nature of civil iberty, its history, the rule of law, parliament, the independence of the judiciary, and includes a nuber of English, American, and French constitutinal documents.
Two of David Hume’s most important works of moral philosophy, epistemology, and psychology which together were supposed to make up Hume’s “science of man”. They are a revised version of his earlier work A Treatise of Human Nature which appeared in 1739.
A strong defence of the benefits of free trade and an open and tolerant society in which economic, social and religious liberties go hand in hand to make a vibrant society like late 17th century Holland. The book angered some clerics when it appeared but it nevertheless became of best seller.
Sumner was one of the founding fathers of American sociology who explored the relationship between the individual and the state from an individualist and free market perspective. This collection of essays is a good example of his approach to the subject.
