libertarianism

Death Comes for the Philosopher

by Wirkman Virkkala June 13, 2011

Though John Hospers was never my hero, he came close. Now he’s dead, like most of the other philosophical writers I admire. He died yesterday, a few days into his 94th year. Since I grew up in one of the two states of the union in which his name appeared on the ballot for the [...]

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Published: “Immanent Politics, Participatory Democracy, and the Pursuit of Eudaimonia”

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché June 11, 2011

I just had an article published in Libertarian Papers: “Immanent Politics, Participatory Democracy, and the Pursuit of Eudaimonia,” Libertarian Papers 3, 16 (2011). Here’s the abstract: This paper builds on the burgeoning tradition of Aristotelian liberalism. It identifies and critiques a fundamental inequality inherent in the nature of the state and, in particular, the liberal [...]

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Jennifer Burns on Ayn Rand and the Classical Liberal Tradition

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché May 28, 2011

With the recent release of the first part of the film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged (see Matthew Alexander’s review on Prometheus Unbound), the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) — via LearnLiberty.org – brings us this interview with Professor Jennifer Burns, author of Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, on how Ayn Rand fits [...]

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A Tale of Two Insights: One Good, the Other Ambiguous

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché May 27, 2011

In a blogpost titled “Hayek on the Two Orders,” Gene Callahan approvingly quotes the following passage from Hayek and admonishes market advocates not to forget or overlook the important insight within: If we were to apply the unmodified, uncurbed, rules of the micro-cosmos (i.e., of the small band or troop, or of, say, our families) [...]

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Somin on Gary Johnson and Ron Paul: A Reply

by Matt Mortellaro May 25, 2011

Ilya Somin over at The Volokh Conspiracy, it seems, is no more a fan of Ron Paul now than he was four years ago. His criticisms remain about the same. This time around, though, he’s got a candidate to contrast Paul with in Gary Johnson. His conclusion? Johnson is a better libertarian than Paul. My [...]

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Are Libertarians No Different Than Statists?

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché May 2, 2011

There are some seriously mistaken individuals who seem to think so. Take a quote like this: The recognition of the insuperable limits to his knowledge ought indeed to teach the student of society a lesson in humility which should guard against him becoming an accomplice in men’s fatal striving to control society [and destroying] a [...]

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Is Libertarianism a Gnostic or Utopian Political Movement?

by Geoffrey Allan Plauché April 24, 2011

This post is excerpted and adapted from the concluding chapter of my dissertation, wherein I addressed two related objections to libertarianism in general and to my account of Aristotelian liberalism in particular: utopianism and gnosticism, the latter being sort of a theological version of the former. Does the theory of virtue ethics and natural rights [...]

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