Rating | Reviewer | Review |
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by Andrew Cain
on 8/9/2010
from San Ramon, CA
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David Gordon once again proves his subtle prowess at demolishing the philosophical grounds of the modern day attempt to save what little is left of intellectual Marxism. Gordon takes the arguments of the three leading proponents of the analytical school of Marxism and shows, point by point, the inadequacy of the theory. The book itself builds each point in a manner similar to praxeology and with the ending of each chapter, the whole corpus of Marxist logic crushes under the weight. Simply put, this is a book that traps analytical Marxists in their own theory and causes them to recede from their own conclusions or move ever more into the ambiguity of orthodox Marxism thus losing its scientific nature and it's 'claim to fame.' It is a book that is certainly worthy of being called a continuation of the work against Marxist thought which started with Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk and included Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard.
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by Jo
on 1/11/2010
from USA
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Great Book! I hope that, one day, Marx will be entirely buried (along with his absurd claims) and his zombie haunting will come to an end!
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by Patrik K.
on 5/28/2009
from Global
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Economics cannot be looked at empirically because unlike natural sciences, it is a soft science.
Keynesianism provides tons of empirical data, but it is still witchcraft. As far a Marx is concerned, he was a vulgar individual who tainted a movement of working people (unlike Charlie) which sought to reap the fruits of their labor.
(i.e. the social-democratic party of sweden having been opposed to excessive taxes in its infancy)
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by AJ Witoslawski
on 3/2/2009
from Michigan
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Many of us know that Hegelian dialectics are patently absurd. Since dialectics are the basis of Marxism, we may deduce that Marxism is more than likely to be equally absurd. Analytical Marxists, however, have combined real logic and Marxism into a formidable ideology that eschews some of the more erratic Marxist theories like the labor theory of value.
David Gordon does much to destroy this new synthesis of logic and Marxism. One way that Gordon attacks Marxism is by showing how all forms of Marxism - whether state socialism, stateless communism, or some kind of worker democracy hybrid (e.g. "council communism") - actually result in GREATER "proletarian unfreedom" than capitalism. In all of these aforementioned systems, the individual worker is subject to some kind of central plan - whether it is of the state, of his fellow workers, or of society in general. Under capitalism, though, the worker has greater freedom to choose between jobs and occupations than under any central plan.
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by P
on 2/22/2009
from Ca
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"But David Gordon has caught up with them, and used the knife of the Austrian School to cut their theories to pieces."
The knife of the Austrian School is an absurd, unsubstantiated economic theory whose adherents reject providing empirical proof. No wonder they are largely ignored in academia. When the Austrian School actually has something with which to combat the empirical proof of the Marxist analysis of capitalism, then we can begin talking about the "knife" of the Austrian School.
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