Tibor R. Machan, one of the most prolific and wide ranging philosophers of our time, has been known internationally for decades through his public speaking, opinion columns, and of course his scholarly writing. This collection of essays seeks to explore Machan’s philosophical ideas by considering some of the basic issues with which he has been concerned throughout his long and highly productive career. The essays range from those concerned with the nature of reality and knowledge to those dealing with the nature of the political/legal order. Topics such as the character of human nature, free choice and responsibility, the justification of individual rights, and the place of justice in the contemporary welfare state―among other basic issues―are discussed in these essays. Because Machan himself dealt with questions of central importance, the essays should appeal to a wide range of interests and disciplines in philosophy and related fields. But the essays are also written by people accomplished in their own right and thus seek not only to comment on Machan, but to make their own contribution to enduring philosophical issues. The volume should be of value to both students and faculty alike.
Dr. Douglas B. Rasmussen is professor of philosophy at St. John’s University in NYC. He received his doctorate from Marquette University. He has co-authored six books, among which are Norms of Liberty: A Perfectionist Basis for Non- Perfectionist Politics (2005) and Liberty and Nature: An Aristotelian Defense of Liberal Order (1991). Recently, Norms of Liberty was the subject of a new book, Reading Rasmussen and Den Uyl: Critical Essays on "Norms of Liberty" (2008). He has published nearly one hundred articles in such journals as the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, American Philosophical Quarterly, International Philosophical Quarterly, The New Scholasticism, The Personalist, Public Affairs Quarterly, The Review of Metaphysics, Social Philosophy and Policy, The Thomist, and in many scholarly anthologies. He guest-edited TELEOLOGY & THE FOUNDATION OF VALUE―the January 1992 (Volume 75, No. 1) issue of The Monist. Finally, he is co-editor of The Philosophical Thought of Ayn Rand (1984).
Dr. Aeon J. Skoble is professor of philosophy and Chairman of the Philosophy Department at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. He is the co-editor of Political Philosophy: Essential Selections (Prentice-Hall, 1999), author of Deleting the State: An Argument about Government (Open Court, 2008), and editor of Reading Rasmussen and Den Uyl: Critical Essays on Norms of Liberty (Lexington Books, 2008), and has written many essays in both scholarly and popular journals. In addition, he writes widely on the intersection of philosophy and popular culture, and is co-editor of Woody Allen and Philosophy (Open Court 2004), The Philosophy of TV Noir (University Press of Kentucky 2008), and the best-selling The Simpsons and Philosophy (Open Court, 2000).
Dr. Douglas J. Den Uyl is Vice President of Educational Programs at Liberty Fund, Inc. He has published books and articles in the areas of political philosophy, ethics, and the history of philosophy, including Power, State, and Freedom: An Interpretation of Spinoza’s Political Philosophy (Van Gorcum, 1983), The Virtue of Prudence (Peter Lang, 1991), and (with Douglas B. Rasmussen) Liberty and Nature: An Aristotelian Defense of Liberal Order (Open Court, 1991); Liberalism Defended: The Challenge of Post-Modernity (Edward Elgar, 1997); and Norms of Liberty: A Perfectionist Basis for Non-Perfectionist Politics (Penn State University Press, 2005).
