Foreward by John Chamberlain
Sewn coth binding, charts and diagrams,
index, 278 pages
Designed and printed by Yale University Press, 1957 $17.95
Note: This book is currently out of print but is available from the publisher at the same price in bound photocopy form. Preparations are underway to offer an electronic version in the spring of 1999.
Readers looking for answers to the modern riddle of the Sphinx--how men can conduct their public community affairs in the same manner as their private affairs, i.e. contractually and voluntarily--will find here a refreshing departure in social thinking.
Arranged in three parts--THE SCIENCE, APPLICATION, and GENERAL SURVEY--this major work of Spencer Heath's builds from the premise that all organization in nature owes its continuity and growth to spontaneous and reciprocal relations among the units of which it is composed. In the light of this universal rule and identifying freely-acting individuals as the units of successful social organization, Heath outlines an authentic natural science of society. On this foundation he describes the autonomous operation of human society as a still incomplete, evolving organizational form.
The second part applies the general principles developed in the first. Notably, it resolves the problem of the divergence between private and social costs in the provision of public services, demonstrating the potential and opportunity for the business community to provide all public services at a profit through free, contractual engagements. "The prospect for society," Heath observes, "is to outgrow government as we know it."
The third part develops the profound spiritual and psychological implications of the science and its application.
This remarkable work, which proposes no political remedies but forecasts only societal growth, traces a social vision of great strength and beauty.
Copyright at Common Law, West El Paso Information Network, 1998