The Broken Community

This text analyzes the philosophical and historical origins and nature of the rule of global markets from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman, drawing on continental and Anglo-Saxon philosophical traditions and incorporating recent theories from political thinkers such as Ulrich Beck and Jurgen Habermas.

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Every age has its distinctive character. Ours is shaped by values and behaviour that are predominantly economic in origin. This is not a religious or a scientific age, or an age of war or conquest. It is an age of trade and commerce, where a peculiarly economic perspective on life has become dominant, not only in the geographical spread of capitalism, but also in the intense application of market principles in spheres of life outside that of business, and previously organized along different lines, such as health and education. This text analyzes the philosophical and historical origins and nature of the rule of global markets from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman, drawing deeply on both the continental and Anglo-Saxon philosophical traditions and incorporating the latest theories from political thinkers such as Ulrich Beck and Jurgen Habermas. It explores the possibilities of a "third way" that could transcend market capitalism without regressing to discredited forms of socialism.