Some may recall this bit of satire from the band 43 years ago — tricky Dicky was of course President. In the UK we had the perennial Screaming Lord Sutch, founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party taking the piss. The point is that perhaps it shouldn’t surprise one that that otherwise intelligent people of all political persuasions…
Steve Horwitz’ long awaited book. I look at the ongoing debate over parenting in the United States, asking whether we are raising a nation of wimps rather than free-range kids. Since about 18% of the population are millennials we are already have a significant nation of wimps or entitled bleating self-induced “autistic” instrumentalist wet noodles. See Keith…
Born on this day What keeps earth air breathable? Not oxygen alone. The earth is a freer place to breathe in, every time you love without calculating a return — every time you make your drudgeries and routines still more inefficient by stopping to experience the shock of beauty wherever it unpredictably flickers. All creeds…
Gray assesses Hayek’s life and work. For those interested in the Encounter piece “My Cousin, Ludwig Wittgenstein” here it is. Equally, and perhaps also happily, Thatcher had no understanding of Hayek’s ideas. Austrian EconomicsConservatismdispersed knowledgedistributed knowledgeFree marketFriedrich Hayekjohn graykeynesLiberalismLibertyLudwig WittgensteinMargaret Thatchersocialism
Still on Nozick and perhaps somewhat of a companion piece to Williams’ essay On Hating and Despising Philosophy. Though this Nozick essay is very well-known engagement with it tends to be primarily in the service of ideological cherry-pickers or scornful silence from its targets. Originally published in Cato Policy Report January/February 1998 and reprinted with some amendments…
Conversations on Philanthropy As Hayekians our thoughts naturally turned to what, if anything, Hayek might have to say on the topic of philanthropy . . . It must be conceded that Hayek’s critique of philanthropy is a rather strange affair . . . The references to Aristotle and to Aristotelian socialism reflect Hayek’s disregard for the niceties…
The more he learned, declared Michael Oakeshott, the less he knew. ConservatismConversationLiberalismMichael OakeshottPhilosophy
1. Michael Oakeshott’s Skepticism 2. Oakeshott on Practice, Normative Thought and Political Philosophy 3. Michael Oakeshott’s political philosophy of civil association and constructivism in International Relations civil associationConservatismconstructivismDavide Orsi.international relationsLiberalismMichael OakeshottnormativismPolitical philosophyskepticism
Recent article by the “dean” of Oakshott studies Generally speaking, those who pursue political philosophy feel an affinity with Mill more than with Oakeshott at this point. It is not that Oakeshott stands in the way of change; on the contrary, he accepts change as natural to humanity; the real objection is that he does…
Article by John Gray from a few weeks back (and surprisingly in The Guardian). It’s a reassuringly simple equation. In fact there are no reliable connections – whether in logic or history – between atheism, science and liberal values. When organised as a movement and backed by the power of the state, atheist ideologies have…
manwithoutqualities 