======================== HES POSTING ===================== I have been reading Kenneth Gergen's THE SATURATED SELF: DILEMMAS OF IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY LIFE (Basic, 1991). It is an interesting read, though I don't buy completely his thesis concerning technology as the driving force behind our current crisis. But as I read deeper into the book I find the argument more compelling than I anticipated at the start. There is nothing really new in the book as far as philosophy of science, etc., but they way that Gergen uses these developments alongside of social psychology research and relates them to the current dilemmas of the academy is fascinating to me. I also recently finished Peter Bernstein's AGAINST THE GODS: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF RISK -- Bernstein's thesis is how modernity emerged due to our growing ability to assign risk measurements and hedge and thus calculate alternative paths (taking into account risk). So many of the institutions and practices we associate with the modern economy are intimately connected to our ability to assign probabilities and make risk assessments (and thus risk management). It is an easy read, but a fascinating one as well -- and if one reads it from a Weber/Mises synthesis the story takes on a very interesting meaning for economics. The Bernstein book relates in an odd way to the Gergen book because while one deals with the birth of modernity, the other deals with the potential death of modernity and the birth of the post-modern, and how the post-modern moment challenges our self awareness and self understanding of our projects in life. I haven't really had the time to digest these book quite yet, but they are both enjoyable and easy summer reading -- certainly a lot better than the new edition of the intermediate microeconomics book that I have to look at soon to prepare my syllabus for the fall! Peter Boettke http://www.econ.nyu.edu/user/boettke ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]