The idea that robots can be programmed for ethical behavior is based on the false impression that morality boils down to rules, a view that Deirdre McCloskey lampoons so well with her 3×5 index card metaphor.

From Cengage, Issue 18, Spring 2000 William A. McEachern, Editor Deirdre McCloskey’s Crossing: A Memoir offers an unflinching personal account of her transformation from Donald to Deirdre (University of Chicago Press, $21.45 including shipping from Amazon.com). The book is written in the third person, which allows her to refer to Donald as a “he” before (more…)

How To Be Human* [original link] By Arnon Grunberg A couple of weeks ago, I traveled to Chicago to meet the distinguished economist Deirdre McCloskey. The reason for the meeting was research for my new novel. I wanted to know more about economists. A mutual friend had introduced us and Deirdre McCloskey was kind enough (more…)

Nick Krafft quoting Daniel Little in Open Economics (Notre Dame), September 29, 2009. Source site and title: “Social Economics” as an Alternative

John Mackey [photo: Dan Winters] From an article in the New Yorker by Nick Paumgarten, “Does Whole Foods Know What’s Good for You?” Prudentia discovers John Mackey’s book interests: He sits in a recliner, surrounded by stacks of books. He gives them a good working over, marking them with underlinings, highlighter, and Post-its. He is, (more…)

Excerpts from Aretae, January 15, 2010 (author unknown): Kling’s triangle … is back in focus due to my reading of Hayek and McCloskey. One of the most fascinating arguments in the first tenth of Deirdre McCloskey’s new book is her line that Europe conquered the world for 1 reason…. it’s the Romer/Friedman/Moldbug argument, but it’s (more…)

So says a Finn on his blog at http://finglish.livejournal.com, 26 January 2010. The quote was excerpted from: Luckily there was also time [while a student] to read more interesting stuff. Deirdre McCloskey’s Knowledge and Persuasion in Economics is probably the most important academic book I ever read – here is an economist who discusses Aristotle, (more…)

Excerpted from Art Carden in “A New Addition to the Bookshelf” in Division of Labor, 25 January 2010 (original link). My copy of Literature and the Economics of Liberty: Spontaneous Order in Culture just arrived … . I’m really looking forward to it; as I’ve come under the influence of Deirdre McCloskey in the last (more…)