Subject: Re: M-TH: Cato Institute News Release on Simon Tribute
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 09:20:08 -0500 (EST)
From: "hoov" <hoov-AT-freenet.tlh.fl.us>


> >WHAT:	A Tribute to the Life and Works of Julian L. Simon

what better tribute to Simon's enviro-optimism than the below
1994 comment from his own pen (word processor?):

' ...our world needs the best efforts of all humanity to improve our
lot'...(our) ultimate resource ...people - especially skilled, spirited, 
and hopeful ypung people ...who will exert their wills and imaginations
for their own benefit, and so inevitably they will benefit not only
themselves but the rest of us as well.'   ("More People, Greater Wealth, 
More Resources, Healthier Environment"/*Taking Sides: Clashing Views on 
Controversial Issues in World Politics*)

of course, one of the uncomfortable factors behind the idea of the
"natural harmony" of the free economy is that there is often an
unspecified metaphysics underpinning the discussion...in writers like
Adam Smith, the invisible hand is encapsulated within an optimistic
deism - God was really controlling apparently random events of the
market...and, with the exception of Hayek's attempt to specify this
metaphysics in his notion of a spontaneous or catallactic order, this
factor has remained inert and unargued in most modern liberals...Michael
Hoover


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