期刊名称：Reason Papers : A Journal of Interdisciplinary Normative Studies
印刷版ISSN：0363-1893
出版年度：2011
卷号：33
页码：207-211
出版社：Reason Papers
摘要：As presented by academic philosophers and economists, libertarianism can seem otherworldly, a clever but impractical exercise in utopian theorizing. As presented by journalists and in popular culture and electoral politics, libertarianism can seem more a sensibility than a system of thought, a set of policy preferences and cultural attitudes which despite their piecemeal practicability and influence, add up to something less than a coherent philosophy. The great strength of Tom G. Palmer’s work is that it combines the intellectual muscle of the academic theorist with the broad appeal of the journalist and the realism of the policy maker. Palmer is neither a pie-in-the-sky ideologue nor a muddleheaded popularizer, but a principled thinker sensitive to both the indispensability and the limits of theory. He is the sort of libertarian writer non-libertarians (and us ex-libertarians) need to take the most seriously. Ample evidence for this judgment is provided by the academic and popular essays collected in Realizing Freedom. Whether expounding his brand of libertarianism, applying it to concrete issues, or responding to critics of libertarianism, Palmer is unfailingly clear and interesting, even when one is inclined to disagree with him. He is also sometimes acerbic, sometimes witty, and sometimes both at once. (His targets are usually asking for it.)
