Perspectives on Public Choice: A Handbook

Book Description

Public choice or rational politics differs from other approaches to the study of political behavior in that it builds on models in which rational individuals seek to advance their own interests. This five-part volume surveys the main ideas and contributions of the field. It contains twenty-five essays written by thirty scholars, both economists and political scientists, from North America and Europe. The contributors cover topics such as the nature and justification for the existence of government, the properties of different voting rules, and electoral politics in two-party governments.

Customer Reviews:

Money Better Spent Elsewhere.......2004-06-16

This edited volume is a compilation of essays on various topics in Public Choice. Dennis Mueller's "Public Choice III" is a far better buy for the interested student, with this book perhaps being a good source for supplemental reading.

A good introductory to political economy.......2000-08-12

Although this book is nothing spectacular, it is what it is. This is the best introductory book on political economy that there is. Without being weighed down heavily by cumbersome mathmatics, etc. (which is something that economics teachers should probably leave to the appendixes) this book expalins most if not all of the major interest-areas in this ever important subdiscipline.

There are no breathtaking theses in this book: it is simply the best minds in the business explaining their particular subdiscipline: be it voting beahvior or Niskeanan bureaucracy. As such, it is also a convienient reference for a more advanced student.

Book Description

Compiling twenty articles on the nature of life and on the objective of the natural sciences, this remarkable book complements Robert Rosen's groundbreaking Life Itself -- a work that influenced a wide range of philosophers, biologists, linguists, and social scientists. Breaking free from the constraints of reductionist reasoning, which maintains that simple, empirical mechanisms are the basis of all life, the renowned biophysicist tackles a remarkable range of subjects that will stimulate similarly far-reaching audiences.

In Essays on Life Itself, Rosen takes to task the central objective of the natural sciences, calling into question the attempt to create objectivity in a subjective world. The book opens with an exploration of the interaction between biology and physics, unpacking Schrödinger's famous text What Is Life? and revealing the shortcomings of the notion that artificial "intelligence" can truly replicate life. Rosen also challenges the paradox of the brain as organism and the receptacle of scientific reasoning. Elegantly rounding out his argument, the author reflects on the quandary of side effects, moments when science confronts unpredicted outgrowths of a process thought to be reduced to a system.

An intriguing enigma links all of the essays: How can science explain the unpredictable? As a century defined by extraordinary scientific progress draws to a close, Essays on Life Itself is a critical work that asks readers to reconsider what we have learned and where science can lead us in the years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Powerful critique, but ..........2004-04-01

This book is a powerfil critique of reductionist and/or simulation (modeling) approach to mind/body problem, and "what is life" question. Rosen builds his case against Church Thesis, arguing that contemporary mathematical and, more generally, scientific rigor, which bans impredicative loops from scientific discource, would not allow us to build what he calls "new science", which is needed to account for life and consciousness.

More than once he mentiones Goedel Theorem, as well as various paradoxes, encountered by science over the centuries, emphasizing the fact, that they all are directly related to the impossibility to draw definite border between an observer and her object (not just in quantum physics).

Although the book was very interesting for me, i felt that some essays essentially repeated the material, already covered in other parts of the same book. Also, this "new science", which Rosen thought is needed to deal with open systems, is never really described in any way, so we are left with critique only.

I am not sure i fully agree with Rosen's view of the Turing Test, which he only sees as a simulation approach to the mind (intelligence) problem. My understanding is that Turing Test should be rather understood in the "observer/object" context, meaning that the participant makes a judgement, being, at the same time, fully incorporated into the system.

In one of the essays Rosen says: "If somebody wants to call this 'vitalism' - then ... so be it." With no constructive theory in site it's a bit like this, to my understanding.

Profound.....Utterly Profound.......2002-11-15

This collection of essays, along with Rosen's other book _Life Itself_, are mandatory reading for any scientist or any astute layperson interested in biology, physics or philosophy of science.

Rosen was a very insightful and technically capable theoretical biologist. His work - first as a student of physicist and theoretical biologist Nicholas Rashevsky, and later as professor emeritus at Dalhousie - is unquestionably of the level of importance of Einstein's Special/General Theory of Relativity, or Godel's Incompleteness Theorems. This is a grand claim to make, but once you read Rosen's work, you will see for yourself.

These are not the easiest books to read, despite Rosen's excellent writing skills. The difficulty is two-fold. First and foremost, the new concepts and paradigms presented are of such breadth and profundity that it can take several readings to begin to fully grasp them adequately. Secondly, Rosen is mathematically (and otherwise) quite astute. The reader will encounter to some degree: category theory, topology, catastrophe theory (Rosen dedicates a chapter on genericity in _Essays_ to Rene Thom), differential equations, dynamical systems, Godel, Church-Turing, as well as philosophical topics of epistemology, ontology, and foundations of biology, mathematics and physics.

This should not, however, deter even the non-professional. Particularly in _Life Itself_, Rosen progresses carefully and patiently, even including a short intro to Category Theory. One can gloss over some of the math and still garner most of the insights from the text alone. _Essays_ utilizes a wider range of math skills, since that book covers a broader range of topics, but it is still quite accessible to the careful and astute reader.

In _Life Itself_, Rosen was investigating the question posed by Erwin Shrodinger originally in his 1943 lecture "What is Life?". Rosen's search led him to peel back in careful detail the foundations of Newtonian mechanics and reveal the underlying tacit assumptions of a state/phase-based physics and the repercussions for science in general, and biology in particular.

By setting aside state/phase-based physics, Rosen then proceeded to layout the groundwork for an atemporal relational biology based on functional organization and to methodically investigate the theoretical limits of mechanistic systems, including along the way: simulation, Turing machines, and the epistemology and ontology of such systems. The distinction eventually becomes clear that any such algorithmic mechanisms cannot embody the kinds of impredicative complexity that are characteristic of an organism. Because the syntax of Newtonian physics can express no such closed loops of entailment, "life" cannot even be described in that model of physics, much less modeled in any complete way. Thus it is that biological organisms are not a mere subset of current physics, but are representative of complexities that require physics to be enlarged.

In _Essays on Life Itself_, Rosen uses his considerable abilities across a broad spectrum of topics to continue the ideas from _Life Itself_. It is difficult to describe how topics as diverse as the assumptions of Pythagoras, the Turing test, universal unfoldings, morphogenesis, mind-brain problem, and more can be in the same book. Mostly, they all in one way or another accomplish one task: to look beyond the limits of how a problem is currently being viewed, and to see it from a larger perspective. Often, these perspectives take Rosen into terrain others would avoid, since they sometimes lead into the non-algorithmic / noncomputable, or the breakdown of the presumed subject-object division, or other kinds of "messy" scenarios.

Often they lead into "complex systems", where Rosen uses the word "complex" to define a certain class of systems - those systems have symptoms of being: impredicative, non-algorithmic, context-dependent, semantic, nonformalizable. This classification is not a desire for obfuscation or ineffability, but is as rigorous as the nonformalizability of Number Theory or the unsolvability in closed form of the n-body problem. It is a complexity akin to the size of a transfinite number: it is not simply a matter of merely being hugely complicated, it is rather an entirely different order of system structure.

However, guided by Rosen, one does not feel uneasy following his path. Rather one feels enriched both in knowledge and in paradigm. Distinguishing the broader generic case from the degenerate or special is a characteristic theme in Rosen. The unfamiliar terrain he argues to is thus not some void, but a grander scale that subsumes the orthodox view.

In that grander view, it may become more clear that some problems are based on incorrect assumptions, while some are more difficult or complex than in the more limited original view. However, it is apparent that Rosen is uninterested in making problems appear simpler by ignoring those difficulties - he is interested in where the science leads. It is an immensely richer, complex view of the physical world that one comes away with. As such, it presents some difficult challanges, but it also opens up vast opportunities - opportunities not visible in the neat and tidy fantasy model of science that generally prevails where it is assumed that with enough effort everything can be reduced or calculated.

Rosen writes deliberately and with precision, and is both a critical and a profound thinker. I hope that he one day receives the recognition and admiration he rightfully deserves.

Groundbreaking Part II..........2002-05-16

This collection of papers and presentations, published posthumously, is a companion to Rosen's earlier books "Life Itself" and "Anticipatory Systems: Philosophical, Mathematical and Methodological Foundations". This is probably the most accessible of his work to those without a fairly solid mathematical background. Not that this should prevent people from reading the earlier work since there are many sections that will be quite clear; I just feel that unfortuntely the crucial points of "Life Itself" might be lost due to the seeming technical nature of the explanation.

This is truly paradigm-shifting, moreso than anything else you are likely to read about in science. The Sante Fe crowd such as Stuart Kauffman obviously did not even grasp what Rosen was talking about when they met back in 1994 and that is even more tragic. So much time has been wasted with such money-wasters like the genome mapping fiasco when it could have been going into exploring new axioms for science.

For you see, this is what Rosen so eloquently points out in his work: the present axioms of science are much too limiting to explain anything we really would like to know about the universe. It is very interesting to see that Rosen grasped the implications of what also caught Einstein and Schrodinger's attention: the problem of inertial and gravitational mass. Rosen also points out the myriad of other areas where science has been busy putting band-aid after band-aid on the present set of theories to try to make them predict real phenomena.

For this is the problem with the present-day paradigms: they are only useful for predicting the N+1 state for some dead (and therefore uninteresting) mechanistic universe. The evidence has been staring us in the face for quite a while and I am not sure why Rosen should have been the first to analyze where the problems lie; it is even more surprising why his work appears to be so little known.

I also like the fact that this book is much more polished than his previous work. The index is mostly complete and there is also a list of references. I didn't note very many editorial erros and the language is quite friendly. This is a very high-quality science book and I suspect the first editions will be going for large prices in about 20 years when the "establishment" finally figures out where they went wrong.

Buy this and read it. And read it again. Then wonder why we are rushing pell-mell to "engineer" the world when we don't understand it at all.

Answers: Why is the whole is more than the sum of its parts.......2002-03-14

Robert Rosen died in December of 1998 after a long bout with diabetes and its complications. He left a significant quantity of unpublished notes and had this book in the publication process. His last "writings" were hand done on paper with great effort due to extensive peripheral neuropathy. It was a mixed blessing to be among the first to read his last works both this manuscript and the next, unfinished one. I am saddened by our loss even as I feel his presence through his writings.

Bob was an eloquent speaker and reading this set of essays is almost as good as hearing him in person. The essays were written to be published in a number of places, usually as invited talks, yet they may as well have been set down to be a book from the start. There is a thread of continuity that makes this the case. In addition, even though I had read many of the essays as they appeared earlier, their juxtaposition in this volume proves that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts"!

His stated purpose of this collection is to, in a sense, "flesh out" arguments in Life Itself (LI) that had to be short or even omitted for what might be called "logistic" reasons. In my opinion the essays do that at least. In LI he began with a caveat with which I am totally sympathetic. He warned the reader that he was weaving a very intricate cloth with a single linear thread and therefore much was being laid upon the reader's shoulders. My own experience is that it took numerous readings to begin to see how the weave was manifest. Once there, things fell into place more and more quickly, yet still a lot more was required because the design is so highly interconnected and rich in levels of meaning. I hope this book of essays will spare others that struggle. It will never be my place to evaluate that possibility since I can never go back.

The first part deals with the relationship of biology and physics within science, which can sound like an innocent enough topic until one understands that it is a revolutionary view.

Underlying it all is the common notion that physics is the source of all scientific laws and that chemistry and biology somehow must utilize physics to be scientific. Rosen rejects this notion and thereby opens a Pandora's Box. He uses the now more than fifty year old essay by Schrödinger, What is Life? as a springboard to the revealing argument about biology's more generic character in comparison to physics. As he does this he develops his notion of complexity as a description of this more generic view promoted by biology in contrast to the kind of "simple systems" which are the subject matter of physics. None of this should sound new to anyone who has read his earlier work, especially Life Itself, except for the new connections and new depths to which the arguments are taken. The result is a more solid whole than ever before

His introduction to this part of the book is worth having here to get a flavor for where he is going: "I claim that Gödelian noncomputability results are a symptom, arising within mathematics itself, indicating that we are trying to solve problems in too limited a universe of discourse." This is a nice capsule version of Rosen's message. If nothing else comes from his writings, this alone should change everyone who understands the message.

The book develops this theme along with the idea that science has limited itself unnecessarily. It created a surrogate world and then insisted that any observations about the real world not compatible with this model were "unscientific". The consequences are many and he explores them systematically. Whether you agree or disagree, an honest reading will require you to re-examine your beliefs.

A wonderful collection of essays.......2001-05-26

Dr. Rosen was a great man and this collection of essays follows on a number of foundational and classic works. The essays expand on, and clarify, a number of key issues that are present throughout Rosen's work. These include the Church-Pythagoras thesis, the mind-body problem, reductionism, syntatics and semantics, and biology and technology.

Product Description

Did you know that while in flight, the sparrows heart can beat up to 760 times per minute? Or that a baby blue whale grows at a rate of 3.3 kg an hour while its nursing, a grand total of 17 tons by the end of the nursing stage? How about that glow worms have a light output efficiency of 100%, as compared to only 4% for our incandescent bulbs? Dr. Werner Gitt, one of the foremost creationist speakers in the world, uses his scientific expertise in this book to show the unique design features of some of Gods most captivating creations. All people, young and old, layperson or expert, will be able to understand and enjoy this straightforward book. Told from the perspective of the animals being described, If Animals Could Talk clearly shows the impossibility of life without design. Dr. Gitt uses simple language to provoke a sense of wonder and awe at the marvelous design of the Creator.

Customer Reviews:

Must-read for all Christians and a great gift to give to others!.......2007-06-16

I have recommended this book to loads of my friends, and everyone was always enthusiastic about it.
No. 1: it's very interesting to read.
No. 2: it is very well researched and presents irrefutable facts of biology.
No. 3: the author believes in a Creator and challenges anyone to explain how these different facts could have been caused by evolution.
This is not "blind" faith, but rather a well thought out presentation of the Bible side of things.
If you are a Christian you will get a great blessing from reading this book, and if you are not but are willing to be challenged, read this book!

Departures: How Australia Reinvents Itself

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Departures: How Australia Reinvents Itself
Xavier Pons
Manufacturer: Melbourne University Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Australia | Australia & Oceania | History | Subjects | Books

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

A collection of essays by various Australian and European authors on a wide range of Australian cultural topics, this is a story of struggle and achievement and occasional failure. Departures deals with innovation and transgression in Australian literature and history and brings out the vitality of Australian culture as it meets new challenges.

Life Itself: Messiness Is Next to Goddessness and Other Essays

Average customer rating:

A Good Read
Changed the way I feel about myself
Personal Anecdotes Are Engaging and Funny

Life Itself: Messiness Is Next to Goddessness and Other Essays
John Boe
Manufacturer: Chiron Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Self-Help & Psychology | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0933029861

Customer Reviews:

A Good Read.......2005-06-17

I found this book to be quite good. Particularly the chapter Papa was a Gamblin Man. Very funny, and I am hoping that another John Boe classic is just around the corner.

Changed the way I feel about myself.......1998-02-21

Author John Boe writes with a witty, engaging style, marrying deep philosophy and insightful humor in this wonderful collection of essays. The title piece, "Messiness Is Next to Goddessness," helped me overcome my guilt about not being neat like all the other women in my family. This may sound trivial, but said guilt was preventing me from inviting my friends and family over. After reading this book, I stopped trying to be someone other than who I was. That's a tall order for one essay! My other favorites include "Don't Dream It, Be It," which likens the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show to a Dionysian ritual. Boe draws from his extensive knowledge of Jung and Shakespeare to comment on the absurdities of everyday life and The Human Condition. Good stuff.

Personal Anecdotes Are Engaging and Funny.......1997-04-09

Mixing humor with the insights of Jungian psychology, nationally known lecturer and storyteller John Boe tells anecdotes of his family and of ordinary life. A breezy read which will catch you off-guard with its insights

"Human Cloning...Unethical in Itself and Dangerous as a Precedent".(Brief Article): An article from: National Right to Life News

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"Human Cloning...Unethical in Itself and Dangerous as a Precedent".(Brief Article): An article from: National Right to Life News

Manufacturer: National Right to Life Committee, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from National Right to Life News, published by National Right to Life Committee, Inc. on March 1, 2002. The length of the article is 784 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: "Human Cloning...Unethical in Itself and Dangerous as a Precedent".(Brief Article)
Publication: National Right to Life News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2002
Publisher: National Right to Life Committee, Inc.
Volume: 29 Issue: 3 Page: NA

Article Type: Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Essays on Life Itself
Robert Rosen
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPJVZQ

Work, death, and life itself: Essays on management and organization (De Gruyter studies in organization : organizational theory and research)

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Work, death, and life itself: Essays on management and organization (De Gruyter studies in organization : organizational theory and research)
Burkard Sievers
Manufacturer: Walter de Gruyter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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