In his recent work, Tyranny and Legitimacy, James Fishkin advances an argument against Roben Nozick’s theory of, what Fishkin calls, “absolute rights” by trying to demonstrate that such a theory would legitimate tyranny. Volume 6, Number 3 (1982) Machan, Tibor. “Fishkin on Nozick’s Absolute Rights.” Journal of Libertarian Studies 6, No. 3
In this note I will argue that social contract theories aimed at establishing norms for personal and community life are inadequate. Briefly, I show that in Kant and Rawls the alleged contractual basis for the legitimacy of law and government is supplemented with the very strict requirement of self-consistency of the resulting norms. Once, however,
What should be a free country’s policy toward foreigners who would wish to live there? This may appear to be a fairly simple question, but it involves many complications. Volume 13, Number 2 (1998) Machan, Tibor R. “Immigration Into A Free Society.” Journal of Libertarian Studies 13, No. 2 (1998):
Phillip Bagus today shows that Mises came before Hardin in the discussion of the problem of the commons. Let me also add Aristotle and Thucydides: That all persons call the same thing mine in the sense in which each does so may be a fine thing, but it is impracticable; or if the words are taken in the other sense, such a unity in no way conduces
That venerable magazine, Publishers Weekly, ran a review of my book, Putting Humans First, Why We Are Nature’s Favorite (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004). It is a mean-minded short little thing that looks to me was meant to bury the book, especially since Amazon.com published it in full next to where the work is described. Here is what Publishes Weekly
Dear President Harter: As a teacher of business ethics at Chapman University, I am truly revolted at the idea that Professor Hans Hoppe’s generalizations, which simply serve as illustrations of statistically valid economic principles as applying to the behavior of different people with different beliefs and attitudes, should serve as grounds for
Alexis de Tocqueville, born 200 years ago in Paris, traveled in America and wrote about the country in his famous book, Democracy in America. He is widely recognized as a most astute observer of American democracy. It is worth considering one of his points at this particular time because it seems to have been overly pessimistic. He wrote that, ...
Apropos Lew’s article today, Newsview: Politicians Failed Storm Victims : Just last year, the Army Corps of Engineers sought $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans. The White House slashed the request to about $40 million. Congress finally approved $42.2 million, less than half of the agency’s request. Yet the lawmakers and
In a region in Florida where a newspaper for which I write columns is published we can witness a rather direct confrontation between some citizens and the nanny state. The case reportedly involves the “owners of two local escort services — Destin’s Angels and Florida Dream Girls — [who] are facing possible prison time on charges they used
The famous yet not sufficiently rewarded economist—leader of the Austrian School to which Nobel Laureate F. A. Hayek belonged—Ludwig von Mises once noted that “Every advance first comes into being as the luxury of a few rich people, only to become, after a time, the indispensable necessity taken for granted by everyone. Luxury consumption provides
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.