Introduction to Partition Logic

This is an introductory treatment of partition logic which also shows the extension to logical information theory and the possible killer application to quantum mechanics.

On Property Theory

This paper is an introduction to property theory including the invisible hand mechanism which handles the initiation and termination of property rights in an on-going private property market economy. The Fundamental Theorem is that when Hume’s conditions of no involuntary transfers and no breached contracts are fulfilled, then the Lockean principle of people getting the fruits of their labor, i.e., imputing legal responsibility in accordance with de facto responsibility is satisfied. The major application is to the current system of a private property market economy based on the renting of persons, i.e., the employment contract.
This is a reprint of the paper in the Journal of Economic Issues in Sept. 2014.

Introduction to Logical Entropy

This paper, a reprint from the International Journal of Semantic Computing, introduces the logical notion of entropy based on the newly developed logic of partitions that is mathematically dual to the usual Boolean logic of subsets (aka “propositional logic”), and compares it to the usual Shannon entropy.

Quantum mechanics over sets

This paper gives a toy model of quantum mechanics over the field 2, where the vectors can be interpreted as subsets of a universe set, and hence the name: “Quantum mechanics over sets.” It gives the “logic” of QM in the old-fashioned sense of the essential logic of a theory pared down to operations on sets (vectors over 2). This includes the simplest logical treatment of the double-slit experiment, Bell’s Theorem, the probability calculus based on Born’s Rule, and much else (all restated in the context of sets).

Determination through universals

Semiadjunctions (essentially a formulation of a universal mapping property using hets) turn out to be the appropriate concept for applications of category theory in the life sciences.

Making Enterprises and Markets Responsible

This is a paper written to further Richard Cornuelle’s abiding vision of a more responsible economy and posted here to invite comment. The basic idea is revisit the whole idea of a market economy dominated by absentee-owned and publicly traded corporations (“Wall Street Capitalism”) that disconnect companies (“the Mother of all disconnects”) from the natural desires of the people working in the companies to improve their communities.

Information as distinctions

This paper is sub-titled “New Foundations for Information Theory” since it is based on the logical notion of entropy from the logic of partitions. The basic logical idea is that of “distinctions.” Logical entropy is normalized counting measure of the set of distinctions of a partition, and Shannon entropy is the number of binary partitions needed, on average, to make the same distinctions of the partition.

Kantian Personhood Principle

This paper formulates the labor theory of property and democratic theory in the context of the Kantian personhood principle to treat other persons always as ends in themselves and never simply as means.

Property and Contract in Economics: The Case for Economic Democracy

This book presents a modern version of the old Labor (or Natural Rights) Theory of Property and of an Inalienable Rights Theory that descends from the Reformation and Enlightenment. Together these theories re-solve the basic problem of distribution in the sense of giving a basis for the just appropriation of property and a basis for answering the question of who is to be the firm, e.g., the suppliers of share capital as in conventional capital, the government as in socialism, or the people who work in the firm as in the system of economic democracy (or labor-managed market economies).

Helping People Help Themselves

The full title to this book is: Helping People Help Themselves: From
the World Bank to an Alternative Philosophy of Development Assistance. The book is an intellectual analysis, giving a full history of the relevant ideas, of the various modes of “helping” in general and development assistance in particular.