Discussions about Liberty from the Online Library of Liberty. https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters en Thomas Jefferson was born April 13, 1743 and died on July 4th, 1826. During his 83 years Jefferson saw and brought about dramatic changes in law, slavery, and religious toleration. His efforts were imperfect but he did, throughout his life, attempt to live up to his ideals. Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:53:40 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2025-03-20-jefferson-in-time-perspectives-through-his-eyes https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2025-03-20-jefferson-in-time-perspectives-through-his-eyes Did a Spanish Enlightenment predate and influence later English and Scottish Enlightenments?  Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:12:19 -0500 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2025-02-18-early-spanish-empire-in-north-america https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2025-02-18-early-spanish-empire-in-north-america American revolutionaries looked to the past for lessons about constraining the individuals who would serve in future governments.  Wed, 18 Dec 2024 08:00:33 -0500 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2025-01-14-ancient-legacies-democracy-v-republic-greece-v-rome https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2025-01-14-ancient-legacies-democracy-v-republic-greece-v-rome David Hume’s skepticism and rigorous empiricism confront Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s idealism and passionate romanticism in this series about their perspectives on liberty. Hume and Rousseau were two of the most notorious and influential thinkers of their time. They were also very briefly friends.  Fri, 08 Nov 2024 10:20:28 -0500 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-11-12-contrasting-views-of-liberty-in-hume-and-rousseau-november-2024 https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-11-12-contrasting-views-of-liberty-in-hume-and-rousseau-november-2024 Michael Oakeshott was an English political theorist and philosopher who is admired by many conservatives and classical liberals. In this Liberty Matters series, Elizabeth Corey relates Oakeshott's ideal categories of civil and enterprise associations to his ideas about education.  Tue, 24 Sep 2024 08:24:56 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-10-08-oakeshott-and-liberal-education-october-2024 https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-10-08-oakeshott-and-liberal-education-october-2024 Many classical liberals have been silent or passive when it comes to racism’s pernicious effects. Others have twisted or misunderstood classical liberalism to justify racist words and deeds. Thu, 08 Aug 2024 07:31:41 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-08-20-classical-liberals-on-race-august-september-2024 https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-08-20-classical-liberals-on-race-august-september-2024 South Royalton Austrian Conference (Rothbard, Ebeling, Salerno, and Block The first Austrian Economics conference was held fifty years ago in 1974 in South Royalton, Vermont. In this Liberty Matters online discussion the authors share their recollections, thoughts on the fifty years since, and their hopes for the future of Austrian economics.  Richard Ebeling leads the discussion and is joined by Mario Rizzo, David Henderson, and Geoffrey Lea. Mon, 03 Jun 2024 10:46:10 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-06-04-the-rebirth-of-the-austrian-school-and-the-south-royalton-conference-marking-the-fifty-year-anniversary-june-2024 https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-06-04-the-rebirth-of-the-austrian-school-and-the-south-royalton-conference-marking-the-fifty-year-anniversary-june-2024 In this Liberty Matters online discussion we assess the ideas of Harriet Taylor Mill and her partnership with John Stuart Mill. The authors often draw on Taylor Mill and Mill’s correspondence, edited by Friedrich von Hayek in 1951. The Lead Essay by Giandomenica Becchio puts Taylor Mill’s work and “radicalism” in context and argues for a more prominent role for Taylor Mill in regard to John Stuart Mill and on her own merits. Becchio is joined by Helen McCabe, Sandra J. Peart, and David Levy. Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:08:25 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-03-28-harriet-taylor-mill-on-marriage-and-divorce-march-april-2024 https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-03-28-harriet-taylor-mill-on-marriage-and-divorce-march-april-2024 A previous set of essays explored systemic racism as a potential cause of racial disparities in education and healthcare. This set focuses on similar disparities in housing and crime. Tue, 13 Feb 2024 08:05:52 -0500 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-02-13-systemic-racism-in-crime-and-housing-february-march-2024 https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2024-02-13-systemic-racism-in-crime-and-housing-february-march-2024 What is civic education, and why does it matter? Further, what constitutes civic education, and whose task should it be to ensure a nation's citizens are civically literate? These are the questions this edition of Liberty Matters hopes to explore, beginning with our lead essayist, David Davenport. Davenport will be joined by Mark Schug, Rachel Davison Humphries, and Lee Trepanier to discuss the fate of liberty and republicanism. Fri, 03 Nov 2023 10:39:59 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2023-11-09-liberty-and-civic-education-november-december-2023 https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2023-11-09-liberty-and-civic-education-november-december-2023 Was a single industry – cotton – the primary driver of American economic development in the 19th century, and thus the basis of wealth today? This is the claim behind what have become known as the "New Histories of Capitalism." While the New York Times version is the most visible today, it has a long lineage. What's brought these economically suspect arguments back to the forefront of public discourse? Phil Magness leads this Liberty Matters discussion in a quest to answer these questions. Fri, 29 Sep 2023 14:52:02 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2023-10-05-why-we-don-t-need-a-new-history-of-capitalism-october-2023 https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/2023-10-05-why-we-don-t-need-a-new-history-of-capitalism-october-2023 If one leaves out petro-nations (e.g., Qatar, United Arab Emirates) and fiscal havens (e.g., Bermuda) from international rankings of income per person, one will find the United States at or near the top of the list (depending on the source used). For many, it is a short step to connect this causally to the American Revolution.  Mon, 14 Aug 2023 11:34:16 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/colonies-cost-american-revolution https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/colonies-cost-american-revolution June 2023 marks the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith's birth. Celebrations of this tercentenary abound, notably at our sister site, AdamSmithWorks. Most often known as the father or modern economics, OLL readers know that Smith's thought was much broader than just that. In fact, political economy as we know it did not quite exist yet in Smith's time; Smith was in fact a professor of Moral Philosophy.BS-Adam-Smith-1060x530.jpeg 115.78 KB Thu, 01 Jun 2023 08:39:08 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/adam-smiths-emergent-rules-of-justice https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/adam-smiths-emergent-rules-of-justice The rise and fall of the Roman republic continued to influence political thought for centuries after its demise. In this Liberty Matters, we invited a group of scholars, led by Paulina Kewes, to consider the influence of this history on the political thought and culture of early modern Europe. What did the rise and decline of this republican ancestor have to teach early moderns (and perhaps us today!) about the political and moral milieu within which we live?Roman senate.jpg 122.32 KB Kewes is joined by Ioannis Evrigenis, Filippo Sabetti, and Michael Moses in this exploration of the continued relevance of this ancient republic. Tue, 02 May 2023 10:58:46 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/the-roman-senate-in-early-modern-europe https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/the-roman-senate-in-early-modern-europe Revolution (n) "a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favor of a new system." How many constitutional revolutions has America experienced? Certainly all agree on the first. Was there another constitutional revolution after the Civil War with Reconstruction? Did Reconstruction actually accomplish the goals it was intended for, or do "old habits die hard?" We posed these questions to a group of scholars to get their takes. Read on as the conversation unfolds in this month's Liberty Matters. Mon, 03 Apr 2023 15:41:16 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/did-we-have-a-constitutional-revolution-but-not-reconstruct-the-south https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/did-we-have-a-constitutional-revolution-but-not-reconstruct-the-south What is feminist economics? Is it a complement or subsitute for standard economic analysis? Regardless, why do we need it today? These are the questions that animate this Liberty Matters symposium. Led by Professor Giandomenica Becchio, four scholars will each take their turn at providing answers to these questions. Becchio reminds us in her opening essay, "Any social phenomenon has many possible causes and correlations, so both the explanations mentioned above are partial. They might coexist: Sometimes discrimination is evident; sometimes gender inequality is not a matter of discrimination. Anyway, the phenomenon of gender inequality exists." Tue, 07 Feb 2023 10:07:51 -0500 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/feminist-economics-becchio-lead-essay https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/feminist-economics-becchio-lead-essay It may seem odd that the topic of monarchy has been chosen for this month’s Liberty Matters. Our stereotypical view of monarchy in the history of liberty is perhaps most often associated with the writings of someone like Sir Robert Filmer who argued that monarchical authority, no matter its origin, was “the only right and natural authority of a supreme father,” making monarchs responsible to God alone, not to a free and responsible people. Or perhaps our views of monarchy are more like those of Mel Brooks in his classic film History of the World Part I in which Brooks plays a libertine, decadent King Louis in France proclaiming whenever he exercises his authority without limits that, “It’s good to be the king!” The recent death of England’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, prompted a remarkable outpouring of affection for an individual who sat as the titular and unelected head of Britain’s government and commonwealth for 70 years. As undemocratic as monarchy seems to be, the support for the institution in a free society seemed to be quite robust. And of course the history of monarchy and the flowering of liberty in Britain occurred side by side as both Steven Davies and Helen Dale discuss in their essays. Davies opens our forum by asking the key question roughly outlined above. This renewed and recent interest in monarchy flies in the face of hundreds of years of experience with the institutional development of modern political orders that support freer societies. Why should anyone take seriously the idea of monarchy as a bulwark for liberty? Davies explores some of the characteristics of the surviving monarchies to tease out an answer. Dale provides us with an historical answer in the context of monarchy’s influence throughout the former British colonies and ties together the various institutions that have kept a lot of those nations relatively freer than many of their counterparts. Perhaps the reason for this success has been the flexibility and adaptability of the institution, as Elena Woodacre argues in her theoretical interpretation of the relationship between monarchy and liberty. She notes quite clearly that tyranny is hardly confined to monarchical governments. History is full of examples of very oppressive regimes without kings. And as Carolyn Harris shows in her thoughtful review of the role the monarchy played in helping to shape the modern British Commonwealth, the subtle influence of the crown, such as Queen Elizabeth dancing with the newly elected Ghanian president and toasting Nelson Mandela, helped to promote liberty in these newly minted countries. Whether or not this reawakening of interest in the prospects for monarchy as a pillar of liberty is merely a response to the death of the queen or something more profound will take time to determine. Either way, these essays provide us with ample food for thought. Tue, 17 Jan 2023 10:09:12 -0500 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/is-there-a-role-for-monarchy-in-a-free-society https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/is-there-a-role-for-monarchy-in-a-free-society Why have ancient texts fallen out of favor today? Once read widely- both in homes and schools- texts by "dead white men" are looked upon today with disfavor. Yet some scholars- and readers- insist upon their enduring significance, even when they reflect a time and place foreign to what we know today. For this Liberty Matters, we invited a diverse group of scholars to ponder the question, Why Read the Ancients Today? Our conversation is led by Roosevelt Montás of Columbia University, known both for claiming that the great books "saved his life," and that all undergraduate education should include exploration of classic texts. Montás cautions us that before we interrogate "the canon," we must first read it. Montás will be joined by Profesors Aeon Skoble, Anika Prather, and Jennifer Frey. Tue, 22 Nov 2022 13:06:48 -0500 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/why-read-the-ancients-today https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/why-read-the-ancients-today At best, healthcare and education in the United States are suboptimal. At worst, they are  a national disgrace. Any disagreements over how best to improve each institution concern more narrowly focused issues, such as racial disparities in outcomes, and the reasons for these disparities. This month, we've invited several scholars to discuss this issue.Jim Crow.jpg 30.07 KB Tue, 04 Oct 2022 08:11:38 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/systemic-racism-in-education-and-health-care https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/systemic-racism-in-education-and-health-care In 1922 Ludwig von Mises published his third book, Die Gemeinwirtschaft: Untersuchungen über den Sozialismus, translated into English in 1936 under the title Socialism. The LibertyClassics edition was published in 1981. It seems fitting to revisit this important work by one of the fathers of Austrian economics on its publication centenary. The book appeared at a time when socialism seemed to hold the answers and solutions for rebuilding a civilization that had just destroyed itself in the Great War. While many, if not most, people (especially intellectuals) associated the war’s outbreak and subsequent horrors with the broadly liberal, free market order that prevailed before 1914, Mises argued that socialism’s promises of a more just and prosperous world were hollow and would only lead to more tyranny and violence. The book was, therefore, either largely ignored or, when noticed, was not generally well received. It remained in circulation, however, and over the years was read by a small number of economists and social scientists on whom it made a profound impression. Probably the most famous of these was Friedrich von Hayek, who read the book upon its initial publication. While he later wrote (in his 1978 “Foreword”) that he did not agree with everything in the book, “I must admit, however, that I was surprised at not only how much of it is still highly relevant to current disputes, but how many of its arguments, which I initially had only half accepted or regarded as exaggerated and one-sided, have since proved remarkably true.” Mon, 08 Aug 2022 10:30:42 -0400 nonadult https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/perspectives-on-mises-socialism-after-100-years https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/liberty-matters/perspectives-on-mises-socialism-after-100-years