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Rated Free Market Fairness 8/10

This book tries to find common ground between the so called <i>classical liberal</i> and <i>high liberal</i> theories of political philosophy. But instead of seeking a compromise between the positions espoused by Hayek, Friedman and other defenders of the thick view of economic liberties characteristic of classical liberalism and the Big Government ideals of social justice seen in Rawls, Dworkin and the high liberal tradition, Tomasi chooses to delimitate the common ground and the differences between the branches of liberal thought, in a way that dismisses some of the straw-men both branches built about themselves and their "opponents". <br/>After that, he proposes a research program that he calls <i>market democracy</i>, combining the typically high liberal worries about social justice and self-government with the classical liberal emphases on thick economic liberties and spontaneous order. In fact, Tomasi argues, the defense of a thick set of economic liberties is essential to full self-ownership. At the same time, the market democratic program provides a solid, non-consequential, basis for the defense of such liberties, usually seen as secondary by the high liberal tradition, and brings a view of social justice that has roots in classical liberalism.<br/>The title of the book comes from Tomasi's favored interpretation of the market democratic program, based on Rawls's Justice as Fairness: by relying on market mechanisms and widening the set of economic liberties that are to be considered as fundamental, the author shows that such a hybrid fares no worse than either liberal socialism or property-owning democracy on the task of fulfilling the conditions of justice as fairness. <br/>Given its Rawlsian influences, it's not surprising that <i>Free Market Fairness</i> focuses on ideal theory and presents a case for that emphasis, not without noting the problems with such abstract, high-level models.<br/>As expected of such an open proposal, there are many aspects of both market democracies and Free Market Fairness that still warrant further exposition, but the book succeeds in presenting a research program that brings interesting questions.

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Published 2026-08-19 13:02 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere