John Tomasi’s new book, Free Market Fairness, is scheduled for release this week. I read this book in draft form almost exactly a year ago, when John was out in San Diego for a Liberty Fund conference I was running on Classical Liberalism in Contemporary Political Philosophy. A few of us (including Danny Shapiro and Roderick Long of this blog) spent the morning talking about the book. I came away deeply impressed, and haven’t changed my mind since. Indeed, that book, and the time I spent with John and others talking about these ideas during that weekend, were a big part of what inspired me to start this blog. It’s a provocative, fastidiously researched, and well-argued book. And it has the potential to be a real game changer in contemporary political philosophy. I highly recommend that you get yourself a copy now.

John blogged about some of the ideas in his book here, here, here, and here.

From the official description:

Can libertarians care about social justice? In Free Market Fairness, John Tomasi argues that they can and should. Drawing simultaneously on moral insights from defenders of economic liberty such as F. A. Hayek and advocates of social justice such as John Rawls, Tomasi presents a new theory of liberal justice. This theory, free market fairness, is committed to both limited government and the material betterment of the poor. Unlike traditional libertarians, Tomasi argues that property rights are best defended not in terms of self-ownership or economic efficiency but as requirements of democratic legitimacy. At the same time, he encourages egalitarians concerned about social justice to listen more sympathetically to the claims ordinary citizens make about the importance of private economic liberty in their daily lives. In place of the familiar social democratic interpretations of social justice, Tomasi offers a “market democratic” conception of social justice: free market fairness. Tomasi argues that free market fairness, with its twin commitment to economic liberty and a fair distribution of goods and opportunities, is a morally superior account of liberal justice. Free market fairness is also a distinctively American ideal. It extends the notion, prominent in America’s founding period, that protection of property and promotion of real opportunity are indivisible goals. Indeed, according to Tomasi, free market fairness is social justice, American style.

Some impressive endorsements:

“This is one of the very best philosophical treatments of libertarian thought, ever. John Tomasi cements his position as one of America’s leading social and political philosophers.”–Tyler Cowen, author of Creative Destruction

“The great political power of free market ideas in recent decades has been unmatched by philosophical and moral defenses. John Tomasi’s fresh exploration of market liberty will challenge orthodoxies left and right. An important and timely book.”–Stephen Macedo, Princeton University

“Hayekian freedom and Rawlsian social justice both evoke attractive visions of how human beings might live together–something seldom acknowledged in our polarized political world. John Tomasi’s Free Market Fairness treats both traditions with depth, nuance, and unremitting fair-mindedness, and then points us toward a synthesis. Social democrats and libertarians equally need to read this book.”–Charles Murray, American Enterprise Institute

“This book provides an original defense of classical liberalism. Tomasi argues that the high liberal conception of free and equal moral persons requires robust economic liberties as a condition of individual independence and self-authorship, while also justifying social supports for the less advantaged. Free Market Fairness is an important contribution to liberal thought.”–Samuel Freeman, University of Pennsylvania

“This book represents the most ambitious recent effort by a political philosopher to square the circle: free markets and fairness. Even readers who disagree with Tomasi’s conclusions will find insight and clarity on every page.”–Richard Epstein, New York University

“Tomasi’s elegant book resembles a long and friendly conversation between Friedrich Hayek and John Rawls–a conversation which, astonishingly, reaches agreement.”–Deirdre McCloskey, author of Bourgeois Dignity and The Bourgeois Virtues