Private Governance shows that philosophers, political and legal theorists, and social scientists mistakenly believe in legal centralism, the view that order in the world depends upon and is made possible by state law. In fact, most governance not only happens to be private, but must be private. This paper extends Edward Stringham’s argument by claiming that philosophers tend to suffer from three biases. Diffidence bias means they are overly pessimistic about people’s willingness and ability to cooperate without state enforcement. Statism bias means the overestimate the degree to which cooperation is secured by the state. Guarantee bias means they overestimate the value and need for legal guarantees.
Private Governance and the three biases of political philosophy
Recent Publications
Recent News
- Free Business Ethics Course Materials
- Defensive Gun Use Among Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians
- The Venture Capitalist Approach to Being an Academic
- Georgetown professor: AR-15 ‘commonly owned’ and ‘incredibly popular’
- “Canadian Blood Services eyes getting plasma from paid donors amid supply challenges”