Joseph Heath
Encyclopedia
Joseph Heath is a philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

. He also teaches at the School of Public Policy and Governance
University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance
The University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance is a public policy and public administration school located in Toronto, Ontario. The SPPG is headquartered in the Canadiana Gallery at 14 Queen's Park Crescent West....

. He received his BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 from McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

, where his teachers included Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor (philosopher)
Charles Margrave Taylor, is a Canadian philosopher from Montreal, Quebec best known for his contributions in political philosophy, the philosophy of social science, and in the history of philosophy. His contributions to these fields have earned him both the prestigious Kyoto Prize and the...

, and his MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 and PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 degrees are from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, where he studied under Thomas A. McCarthy and Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas is a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theory on the concepts of 'communicative rationality' and the 'public sphere'...

. He has published both academic and popular writings, including the bestselling The Rebel Sell
The Rebel Sell
The Rebel Sell: Why the culture can't be jammed is a non-fiction book written by Canadian authors Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter in 2004...

. His philosophical work includes papers and books in political philosophy, business ethics, rational choice theory, action theory, and critical theory.

Ideas

The central claim of Rebel Sell is that counter-cultural movements have failed, and that they all share a common fatal error in the way they understand society; thus counter-culture is not a threat to "the system
The System
The System can refer to:* Any system* Any system of government, law, or bureaucracy: political system. The phrase in this usage can carry negative connotations.* Systema, a Russian martial art...

".
For example, it is suggested of Adbusters
AdBusters
The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, anti-consumerist, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia...

' Blackspot campaign that the shoe's existence proves that "no rational person could possibly believe that there is any tension between 'mainstream' and 'alternative' culture."

In the book Filthy Lucre, Joseph Heath criticizes the idea that tax-paying is inherently different than consumption, and argues that the idea of a tax freedom day
Tax Freedom Day
Tax Freedom Day is the first day of the year in which a nation as a whole has theoretically earned enough income to fund its annual tax burden. It is annually calculated in the United States by the Tax Foundation—a Washington, D.C.-based tax research organization...

 is flawed:

It would make just as much sense to declare an annual "mortgage freedom day", in order to let mortgage owners know what day they "stop working for the bank and start working for themselves". ...But who cares? Homeowners are not really "working for the bank"; they're merely financing their own consumption. After all, they're the ones living in the house, not the bank manager.

Popular books

  • The Efficient Society
    The Efficient Society
    The Efficient Society: Why Canada is as Close to Utopia as it Gets is a popular book by Canadian philosopher and author Joseph Heath. First released in 2001, the book is Heath's attempt to explain why Canada 'works'. He argues that Canada's successes as a nation are largely attributable to its...

    , 2002.
  • The Rebel Sell
    The Rebel Sell
    The Rebel Sell: Why the culture can't be jammed is a non-fiction book written by Canadian authors Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter in 2004...

    , 2004, with Andrew Potter
    Andrew Potter
    Andrew Potter is a Canadian newspaperman and author, best known outside Canada for co-authoring The Rebel Sell, with Joseph Heath.Born in Teulon, Manitoba, Potter attended Glebe Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, before earning a BA in Philosophy at McGill University, then MA and Ph.D. degrees in...

    .
  • Filthy Lucre: Economics for People Who Hate Capitalism
    Filthy Lucre: Economics for People Who Hate Capitalism
    Filthy Lucre: Economics for People Who Hate Capitalism is a 2009 book by Joseph Heath.The book is organized around twelve fallacies or myths associated with economics, six of which are common on the left, and six of which are common on the right...

    , 2009.

Academic books

  • Communicative Action and Rational Choice, 2001.
  • Following the Rules. Practical Reasoning and Deontic Constraint, 2008.

External links

  • Home page
  • University of Toronto profile
  • Audio file of lecture by Heath & Potter summarizing The Rebel Sell from TVO
    TVOntario
    TVOntario, often referred to only as TVO , is a publicly funded, educational English-language television station and media organization in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario...

    's Big Ideas
  • Video (with mp3 available) of conversation between Heath and Will Wilkinson
    Will Wilkinson
    Will Wilkinson is a Canadian American libertarian writer. Until August 2010, he was a research fellow at the Cato Institute where he worked on a variety of issues including Social Security reform and, most notably, the policy implications of happiness research. He is currently working on a paper...

     on Bloggingheads.tv
    Bloggingheads.tv
    Bloggingheads.tv is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast online to viewers...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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