All Posts Tagged With: "Natural Law"

Lysander Spooner: American Anarchist

It was in the early 1970s that I first learned of Lysander Spooner’s ideas. The six volumes of his Collected Works, which were published in 1971 and which I purchased soon thereafter, played an important part in my intellectual development as a voluntaryist. I was the person who in 1976 unearthed Spooner’s essay “Vices Are [...]

24Aug2011 | Carl Watner | 7 comments | Continued

Race & Liberty in America: The Essential Reader / Dred Scott’s Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America

Two recent books criticize racial discrimination from a classical-liberal perspective. The first, Race & Liberty in America, is an anthology edited by Jonathan Bean, a professor of history at Southern Illinois University. It includes dozens of selections, from 1776 to today, arguing eloquently for colorblind equality before the law and against slavery, Jim Crow, and [...]

20May2010 | Roger Clegg | 3 comments | Continued

Did Locke Really Justify Limited Government?

John Locke (1632–1704) was a physician, statesman, and political philosopher, filling that last office in a dry, “empirical,” and militantly antipoetic English mode. Locke’s stock has risen and fallen over the years. Contemporaries called him a Socinian (a precursor of Unitarianism), a deist, a Muslim, and an opportunist. Later critics have seen Locke as the [...]

24Feb2010 | Joseph R. Stromberg | 15 comments | Continued

Lost in Transcription

Following rules, such as the rules of language, of the market, or of just conduct, is more about “knowing how” than “knowing that.” This is a lesson taught by many important thinkers, among them, Gilbert Ryle (who used these terms in the title of chapter 2 of The Concept of Mind), F.A. Hayek, and Ludwig [...]

22Aug2008 | Sheldon Richman | 5 comments | Continued

Is the Corporation a Free-Market Institution?

Is the modern large publicly traded business corporation compatible with a truly free market? The question itself may seem strange, even silly. Corporations are primary actors in what the media refer to as “the market economy.” Also, when the media refer to “the market,” they as often as not mean the stock exchange, which is [...]

1Mar2003 | Frank van Dun | 1 comment | Continued

Human Action

Hillsdale College Press · 2000 · 305 pages · $9.95 paperback Reviewed by Bettina Bien Greaves For years Hillsdale College has published annual anthologies in honor of Ludwig von Mises. In the beginning these were slim volumes, consisting only of addresses made at the college by visiting dignitaries. Since Richard Ebeling joined Hillsdale’s economics faculty [...]

1Oct2001 | Bettina Bien Greaves | 0 comments | Continued

Are There Two Libertarianisms?

Libertarian, or classical-liberal, thinking is routinely divided into two supposedly different camps. In a controversial article some years ago, R. W. Bradford (using the pen name “Ethan O. Waters”) called these “The Two Libertarianisms”: “moralism” and “consequentialism.” Moralism is the belief that individual rights are justified through an appeal to natural law and natural rights. Consequentialism justifies liberalism by arguing that it will “optimize” the wealth and happiness of society.

1Jun2001 | James Peron | 1 comment | Continued

Vital Remnants: America’s Founding and the Western Tradition

This book is a collection of essays that had their genesis in lectures delivered at a week-long conference on “America and the Western Tradition,” in Colonial Williamsburg in 1998. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) brought together some of the best students and college faculty in the country to explore the Western roots of the American [...]

1Dec2000 | Wesley Allen Riddle | 1 comment | Continued

The Declaration of Independence: It’s Greek to Me

The stirring words of Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence said that all men are endowed with certain inalienable rights. To Jefferson these rights existed before the founding of government and the function of government is “to secure these rights.” But he himself said that his ringing words did not express a new idea: “This was the object of the Declaration of Independence.

1Aug2000 | James Peron | 0 comments | Continued

Tensions in Early American Political Thought

According to the eminent historian of political thought J.G.A. Pocock, republican theory (or “civic humanism”) was the most significant current of eighteenth-century English and American political philosophy. In the form of “country ideology,” republicanism gave “left” and “right” critics of government policies a framework and believable rhetoric for their arguments.

1May1999 | Joseph R. Stromberg | 0 comments | Continued

Written on the Heart: The Case for Natural Law by J. Budziszewski

InterVarsity Press • 1997 • 252 pages • $15.99 The canard that free-market economists are so narrowly focused on economic concerns that they miss the big picture seems as indestructible as it is indefensible. It was Ludwig von Mises, after all, who said that one cannot be a good economist if he is only an [...]

1Jan1999 | Robert Batemarco | 0 comments | Continued

A Peaceful Ferment in Somalia

Spencer MacCallum is a social anthropologist living in Tonopah, Nevada, where he directs the Heather Foundation. He is the author of numerous articles on classical liberalism and of The Art of Community, published by the Institute for Humane Studies. A social experiment with far-reaching implications for human freedom is shaping up in Somalia. I had [...]

1Jun1998 | Spencer Heath MacCallum | 0 comments | Continued

The Mainspring of Human Progress

William Peterson, an adjunct scholar at the Heritage Foundation, is the Distinguished Lundy Professor Emeritus of business philosophy at Campbell University in North Carolina. “There can be no progress except through the more effective use of our individual energies.” The emblazonment of this quotation on the front cover of the new edition of Henry Grady [...]

1Jun1998 | William H. Peterson | 0 comments | Continued

The Non-Absurdity of Natural Law

There is an immense difference between disagreeing with a theory and considering it to be absurd. The former can be a respectful process that encourages discussion; the latter implies that anyone who holds the theory must be a fool. In vernacular language, the difference can be expressed as, “Is the other guy wrong, or is [...]

1Feb1998 | Wendy McElroy | 2 comments | Continued

Government: An Ideal Concept: Leonard Read’s Formula for Freedom

Mr. Heller is an auctioneer in southern New Jersey. The reviewer begs the reader’s indulgence for combining a book review with an appreciation of the author. Yes, Leonard Read is my guide and inspiration, and I was thrilled to learn of the republication of Government: An Ideal Concept (FEE, 1997, $12.95 paperback). This book is [...]

1Aug1997 | Esler G. Heller | 0 comments | Continued

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Who Gave Natural Law to the Modern World

He insisted on the primacy of moral standards over government laws. These standards became known as natural law. Above all, Cicero declared, government is morally obliged to protect human life and private property. When government runs amok, people have a right to rebel—Cicero honored daring individuals who helped overthrow tyrants.

1Jan1997 | Jim Powell | 40 comments | Continued

The History of Freedom

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This one sentence, from a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, not from some public document, has served to immortalize Lord Acton’s thought for posterity. And yet, like most short summaries, it hides so much of central importance to Lord Acton that it is almost misleading. What [...]

1Jan1995 | Salim Rashid | 0 comments | Continued
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