Stephan Kinsella – Page 22 – The Libertarian Standard

Hoppe on the plight of newcomers in a fully owned world

By Stephan Kinsella / November 19, 2011 / 1 Comment / 2 minutes of reading

Great passage that I’ve always liked from Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s The Economics and Ethics of Private Property, p. 417-18:

In fact, what strikes Conway as a counterintuitive implication of the homesteading ethic, and then leads him to reject it, can easily be interpreted quite differently. It is true, as Conway says, that this ethic would allow for the possibility of the entire world’s being homesteaded. What about newcomers in this situation who own nothing but their physical bodies? Cannot the homesteaders restrict access to their property for these newcomers and would this not be intolerable? I fail to see why. (Empirically, of course, the problem does not exist: if it were not for governments restricting access to unowned land, there would still be plenty of empty land around!) These newcomers normally come into existence somewhere as children born to parents who are owners or renters of land (if they came from Mars, and no one wanted them here, so what?; they assumed a risk in coming, and if they now have to return, tough luck!). If the parents do not provide for the newcomers, they are free to search the world over for employers, sellers, or charitable contributors, and a society ruled by the homesteading ethic would be, as Conway admits, the most prosperous one possible! If they still could not find anyone willing to employ, support, or trade with them, why not ask what’s wrong with them, instead of Conway’s feeling sorry for them? Apparently they must be intolerably unpleasant fellows and should shape up, or they deserve no other treatment.

I seem to recall Rothbard saying something similar, something to the effect that in a free society we could of course expect the misfortunate and poor to receive charity from others, unless they were so unpleasant that they could find no one who could help them, in which case this is not the fault of the free market … anyone remember this?

[SK]

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A great new libertarian resource: Libertarianism.org

Anti-Statism, Education, Libertarian Theory, The Basics

By Stephan Kinsella / November 18, 2011 / 1 minute of reading

The new Libertarianism.org, a project of the Cato Institute, is a gorgeous website containing a well-organized set of information about libertarian ideas, history, and people. I am just exploring it but am amazed at how smooth and elegant the site design and organization of material is. It contains introductory material for newcomers and current and more advanced material as well, and it highlights the work of a host of people influential on libertarian ideas. Check it out.

For a good overview of the site’s aims and contents, see the welcoming post from Nov. 3, 2011, by Aaron Ross Powell. (My fellow TLS blogger Wirkman Virkkala blogged about it previously at New Libertarian Website Launched.)

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Mises Seminar — Australia

(Austrian) Economics, Anti-Statism, Education, Libertarian Theory, Statism, The Basics

By Stephan Kinsella / November 17, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

Austrian and libertarian ideas are spreading around the globe, thanks in large part to the work done by the Mises Institute to promote and spread these ideas. A case in point is the Mises Seminar being held November 25 and 26 in Sydney, Australia, and being put on by Aussienomics, an Austrian-Australian group, Liberty Australia, and the Macquare University Libertarian League. As the Aussienomics site notes,

On the 25-26th of November, a watershed moment in the history of Australian liberty will be occurring in Sydney: the Australian Mises Seminar. Over the past year we have collaborated with the best and brightest representatives of Austrian economics and libertarianism in Australia to bring you this incredible weekend.

The lead speaker at the event Hans-Hermann Hoppe. The event looks like it will be fantastic and soundly rooted in principled Rothbardian libertarian and Misesian-Rothbardian Austrian economics.

What really impressed me was the beautiful 108 page programme they produced (yes, 108 pages). It’s full of nice pictures and illustrations of Mises, Rothbard, and others, inspiring quotes, and an overview of the seminar. The main reason for its length, however is that it contains “Pre-Seminar Reading”. I’ve never seen this in a programme before but it’s a great idea (and possibly only because the material they drew from was from sources that do not lock down the content using state copyright law). As the programme explains:

The readings help provide a basic foundation and understanding of the core principles used to analyse the more complex issues that will be under discussion at the seminar. They will help you follow the overall themes and make informed contributions should you choose to do so. As a result, everyone gets more from attending the seminar.

The overview section first contains an article entitled A Primer on Austrian Economics by Jonathan M. Finegold Catalan which gives a brief summary of the school of thought, its history and contributions. The fundamental difference between advocates of the Austrian school and the rest of the economics profession is methodology. The second chapter of Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s book Economic Science and the Austrian Method, is On Praxeology and the Praxeological Foundation of Epistemology. This enthralling exposition highlights Mises insights and makes the case for praxeology as the ultimate foundation of all knowledge. Anatomy of the State by Murray N. Rothbard exemplifies the case as to what the state is, what it is not and why its existence should be lamented. What Libertarianism Is by Stephan Kinsella clarifies what separates libertarianism from other political philosophies.

The programme may be downloaded here. A podcast by some of the organizers discussing the Seminar may be found here.

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Wozinski: “A Priori of Justice”

(Austrian) Economics, Libertarian Theory

By Stephan Kinsella / November 17, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

Jakub Wozinski, who previously published “Hayek and Departure from Praxeology” in Libertarian Papers, asked me to post the draft of his working paper “A Priori of Justice” (RTF; PDF; text here). His note is below. Feel free to email comments to him or leave them in the comments field below.

“A Priori of Justice” is an attempt to systematize the whole libertarian legal theory. This paper is based mostly on Hoppean and Rothbardian concepts, but I suggest some improvements. In my approach I emphasize homesteading should be understood as change of location and surety, i.e. material substratum of valid contracts. It is my view that this perspective can shed new light on the whole of libertarian theory.

Another aspect of my paper is the identification of law and ethics as one integrated theory justified by action and argumentation axioms. A libertarian legal code is presented as the only possible ethic and all other theories considered hitherto to be ethics are just beliefs which cannot be rationally proved.

I am hopeful that the reader will find in “A Priori of Justice” more than just the repetition of the old theories and will be surprised by my fresh approach.

Before publishing this paper, I would like to receive comments and other suggestions for improvement or refinement from other libertarians interested in these matters. I will be grateful for any comments (please send them to: wozinski@poczta.onet.pl).

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TLS Podcast Picks: Government Food Subsidies, Unbecoming British, American Privateers, and more

Anti-Statism, Podcast Picks

By Stephan Kinsella / November 16, 2011 / 2 minutes of reading

Recommended podcasts:

Government Subsidies and Our Food Bills, KERA Think, November 15, 2011 (“Do we really know the how and why behind government subsidies? Who do they benefit and why were they created in the first place? We’ll talk this hour with writer Thomas M. Kostigen, author of the new book The Big Handout: How Government Subsidies and Corporate Welfare Corrupt the World We Live In and Wreak Havoc on Our Food Bills);
Unbecoming British, KERA Think, November 10, 2011 (“Along with its revolutionary political independence, how did the United States of America gain cultural and social differentiation from its former colonial master Great Britain? We’ll talk this hour with Yale University Historian Kariann Akemi Yokota, author of the new book Unbecoming British: How Revolutionary America Became a Postcolonial Nation“);
Shipwrecks, Treasure and Cannon Fire: The True Story of an American Privateer, Reason.tv (“Compared with better-known stories of the Founding Fathers who, author and regular Reason contributor Jackson Kuhl note, “don’t do much,” the story of privateer Samuel Smedley is brimming with action. His new book, “Samuel Smedley, Connecticut Privateer,” delves into this true-life tale of revolution, shipwrecks, treasure and cannon fire. … Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie sat down with the author to talk about Smedley, America’s fascination with Revolutionary War biographies and Kuhl’s desire for a film franchise.”)
Van Gogh: The Life, KERA Think, November 14, 2011 (“He’s famous for both his incredible art and his notorious instability, but what was life really like for one of the greatest artists in history? We’ll spend this hour with Pulitzer prize-winning author Steven Naifeh. His new book, co-written with Gregory White Smith is Van Gogh: The Life“);
Evolutionary Psychologist Gad Saad on Consumerism, Sex, Advertising, and Human Nature, Reason.tv, Nov. 15, 2011 (“The Ferrari is exactly the same in the human context,” says evolutionary psychologist Gad Saad, “as the peacock’s tail is on the peacock.” Saad is an evolutionary behavioral scientist at Concordia University and author of the book The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal about Human Nature, in which he argues that most consumer behavior can be explained by evolutionary psychology. … Reason.tv’s Zach Weissmueller sat down with Saad to discuss why most Ferrari owners are men, whether or not advertising executives manipulate our minds, the strong political opposition to the evolutionary sciences from across the spectrum, and the evolutionary significance of Sir Mix-a-lot’s “Baby Got Back.””);
Interview with Eric Ries, Triangulation #30 (author of The Lean Startup).

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