Roderick T. Long's Web Journal http://praxeology.net/unblog.htm My blog is moving to a new location! .... http://praxeology.net/unblog08-06.htm#06 Keith Olbermann brings it .... http://praxeology.net/unblog08-06.htm#05 Today I'm pleased and relieved to learn that my friends Jeremy and Lucy Koons made it out of Lebanon safely .... http://praxeology.net/unblog08-06.htm#04 Deadlines are looming for the Alabama Philosophical Society conference .... http://praxeology.net/unblog08-06.htm#03 The Molinari Society will be holding its third annual Symposium .... http://praxeology.net/unblog08-06.htm#02 The latest issue (20.2) of the Journal of Libertarian Studies is out .... http://praxeology.net/unblog08-06.htm#01 As everyone on Earth now knows, our Prince President was recently recorded .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#12 By most reports, Israeli bombings of Lebanon are strengthening Hezbollah's support among Lebanese civilians, while Hezbollah bombings of Israel are strengthening the Israeli government's support among Israeli civilians. So here we have (what are by libertarian standards) two criminal gangs, both blasting away at innocent civilians, and the result is to increase these gangs' popularity among the civilians being victimised! A very successful outcome for both sides .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#11 What? Another post of nothing but links? .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#10 Is this an Israeli boy wounded by Hezbollah missiles in Haifa? Or is it a Lebanese boy wounded by Israeli missiles in Beirut? .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#09 The Alabama Philosophical Society (for which I'm the webmaster, archivist, and secretary-treasurer) will be holding its Annual Meeting on October 20-21, 2006, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#08 A couple of follow-ups to yesterday's post .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#07 More miscellaneous musings .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#06 Some miscellaneous musings .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#05 Still too busy to do much more than toss some more links your way .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#04 Just now came across this great parable .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#03 Meeting in Portland over (ironically enough) Independence Day weekend, the Libertarian Party convention ended up gutting the LP Platform, removing nearly all of the more radical planks (including the antiwar one) .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#02 (I'm going to be away from my computer on the Fourth, so I'm posting my Independence Day observations a day early.) How should we think about the American Revolution? I suggest we should think of it as an uncompleted project .... http://praxeology.net/unblog07-06.htm#01 I'm back from San Diego, but once again I'm too busy to blog about it. (My backlog of things I want to blog about -- my b(ack!)log? -- has grown to monstrous dimensions.) But I'm not too busy to engage in a bit of shameless self-promotion: Tomorrow I start my philosophy seminar on the praxeological foundations of libertarian ethics .... http://praxeology.net/unblog06-06.htm#03 The more "moderate" opponents of immigration are often heard saying, "fine, let people immigrate by all means, but they should do it the legal way." A fair response to this bromide would be: What legal way? As this article shows, for most low-skilled Mexican workers there is no legal way to enter the United States .... http://praxeology.net/unblog06-06.htm#02 I'm back from Scotland! But more about that later. Joseph Stromberg's excellent 1995 article "English Enclosures and Soviet Collectivization: Two Instances of an Anti-Peasant Mode of Development," which appeared in the first (and alas only) issue of Sam Konkin's journal The Agorist Quarterly, has been getting some attention in the left-libertarian blogosphere lately .... http://praxeology.net/unblog06-06.htm#01 I've been planning for ages to write about my Vegas and Prague trips/conferences, as well as to add some further thoughts on the French rioters .... http://praxeology.net/unblog05-06.htm#06 A text version of my August 2005 talk "Economics and Its Ethical Assumptions" is now online .... http://praxeology.net/unblog05-06.htm#05 I've previously described how to find the graves of Gustave de Molinari and Benjamin Constant in Paris's Pere Lachaise cemetery; see the map below on the left. I noted at that time that although I knew the grave of another great libertarian thinker, Jean-Baptiste Say, was nearby, I was unable to locate it on my last trip to Paris. Now, between advice from Herve de Quengo and coming across a more complete map, I can describe the location of Say's grave more precisely .... http://praxeology.net/unblog05-06.htm#04 Who wrote the following passages? .... http://praxeology.net/unblog05-06.htm#03 In the latest (June '06) issue of Liberty, in a review of Stephen Cox's excellent Isabel Paterson biography, Bruce Ramsey writes .... http://praxeology.net/unblog05-06.htm#02 Francis Tandy's 1896 book Voluntary Socialism is one of the classics of market anarchism .... http://praxeology.net/unblog05-06.htm#01 Here are Pitt and Jolie looking their most Randian .... http://praxeology.net/unblog04-06.htm#07 Follow-up to yesterday's post: On second look at the TOC report, I notice it says .... http://praxeology.net/unblog04-06.htm#06 The Atlas Shrugged film project, which has been languishing in development hell for, like, ever, seems to be making progress toward actuality once again .... http://praxeology.net/unblog04-06.htm#05 Tomorrow I leave for the Prague Conference on Political Economy .... http://praxeology.net/unblog04-06.htm#04 We should never let our admiration for a thinker's virtues blind us to his flaws .... http://praxeology.net/unblog04-06.htm#03 My Rothbard Memorial Lecture is now available in text, audio, and video formats. In it I try to delineate Rothbard's legacy for the libertarian left, including a discussion of the relation between free-market anarchism and participatory democracy .... http://praxeology.net/unblog04-06.htm#02 I'm back from Vegas, but a bit under the weather; I'll blog about the conference and other matters later. But while I was away, the latest issue (20.1) of the Journal of Libertarian Studies came out, and as is my wont I'm writing a brief plug. Kevin Carson (check out his website and blog) is one of the most interesting thinkers on the contemporary libertarian left .... http://praxeology.net/unblog04-06.htm#01 Tomorrow I'm off to Las Vegas for the (unluckily monikered) APEE .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#13 I'm continuing to work my way through some of the lesser-known works of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, and thought I would comment on the two latest .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#12 What the current protests in France are about, at least inter alia, is the French government's proposal to allow employers to fire their workers -- a right they're currently not allowed. It might seem clear which side a libertarian has to be on in this dispute: of course libertarians favour freedom of association, which includes the freedom of either party to exit an employment contract. Thus the new proposal apparently represents a move in the direction of a free market: the government is right, and the protestors are wrong. But things aren't quite so simple .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#11 Victor Yarros -- our mystery philosopher from a few weeks back -- was one of the leading figures of 19th-century American anarchism: disciple of Herbert Spencer, populariser of Lysander Spooner, and sometime co-editor of Benjamin Tucker's periodical Liberty. In the 20th century, however, Yarros eventually repudiated anarchism in favour of social democracy -- becoming an admirer of the policies of Wilson and FDR, waxing enthusiastic about the T.V.A., and apparently even making his peace with the Soviet Union .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#10 So, here's a bumper sticker I'd like to see .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#09 A rundown of my adventures for this past week or so .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#08 To a reader just starting Jules Verne's 1877 novel Hector Servadac, it wouldn't be obvious that this was to be one of Verne's science fiction novels .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#07 The last of the unreleased Babylon 5 shows is now finally being released on dvd, as a feature-length film titled Legend of the Rangers .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#06 They say that mammoths are extinct -- but are they? Take a good look at this aerial photo .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#05 I notice that some versions of the "Meme of Fours" include the category "Four albums I can't live without." So here are mine .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#04 Wally Conger has tagged me with the dreaded "Meme of Fours." I hereby discharge it .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#03 I was very sorry to hear that Harry Browne has died .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#02 Guess the mystery philosopher .... http://praxeology.net/unblog03-06.htm#01 Andreas Katsulas, who played G'kar so unforgettably on Babylon 5, has died .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#16 Two more additions to the Molinari Online Library: Stephen Pearl Andrews -- disciple of Josiah Warren, sometime speechwriter for Victoria Woodhull, and an important influence on Benjamin Tucker -- was an abolitionist, feminist, labour activist, individualist anarchist, and a leading proponent of "free love" .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#15 The latest additions to the Molinari Online Library are two early classics of the Austrian School .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#14 Lawrence Summers, Harvard's anti-feminist, pro-militarist, pro-corporatist president, is resigning .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#13 Benjamin Tucker famously held that property in real estate depends on continued personal occupancy, so that when a landlord undertakes to rent out a plot of land or a building to a tenant, the "landlord" actually surrenders ownership to the "tenant," who -- despite whatever contract she may have signed -- has no obligation, enforceable or otherwise, either to keep paying rent or to return the property at the expiration of the lease. I think Tucker's view on this subject is mistaken, but debating its merits is not my present concern. (For a defense of Tucker's position, see Kevin Carson's critique of absentee landlordism; for the contrary view, see my forthcoming reply to Carson in the next issue, 20.1, of the JLS.) Rather, for purposes of this post I want to ask a historical question: what was Lysander Spooner's position on this issue? .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#12 I'm back! The conference was great .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#11 I'm off to San Francisco for a Liberty Fund conference .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#10 I'm sure the running dogs of statism will be rushing to use His Excellency's recent misadventure as another argument for increased gun control .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#09 For fans of Jules Verne (about whom I've blogged a fair bit lately), check out Ken Gregg's interesting post .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#08 I'm sometimes asked why I label (or likewise why Rothbard labeled) Gustave de Molinari the "first market anarchist" or the "founder of market anarchism." Weren't there anarchists before Molinari who were pro-market? .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#07 You know you want one .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#06 Two recent Randian skirmishes .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#05 The blog contest at Liberty and Power is over, and I'm pleased to announce that Austro-Athenian Empire was declared .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#04 Coretta Scott King, 1927-2006; Betty Friedan, 1921-2006; R.I.P. .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#03 I was around age 11 when I first discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#02 Today is Ayn Rand's birthday. Last year, for her centenary, I wrote about Rand's legacy for libertarians generally. This year I want to write about her legacy for left-libertarians in particular. Rand's legacy? For left-libertarians? Such a proposal might well engender skepticism .... http://praxeology.net/unblog02-06.htm#01 On Wednesday I sent the following email to Keith Olbermann's show .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#34 Once when I was 12 or so I went up to the checkout with six comic books I'd picked out, only to realise I had just enough money to buy four .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#33 I wish I could say it's only the Peikoffian branch of the Randian movement that engages in this kind of malevolent tribalism .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#32 A draft of Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine's book Against Intellectual Monopoly is available online .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#31 I can be mistaken about whether you're in pain, but I can't be mistaken about whether I'm in pain. But what sort of fact is that? One natural answer -- we might call it the Cartesian answer -- is that it's just a basic albeit somewhat mysterious property of self-awareness that it has a kind of luminous infallibility that other forms of awareness don't. Wittgenstein famously criticises the Cartesian answer. I think the Wittgensteinian criticism is correct -- but I also think it's also easily misunderstood .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#30 Check out Norm Singleton's latest post on the left-libertarian thread .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#29 More shameless self-promotion: further details about my summer seminar on the praxeological foundations of libertarian ethics have been posted .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#28 WWWD = What Would Dubya Do? .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#27 Until recently it would cost you over $200 to get a copy of Murray Rothbard's massive two-volume History of Economic Thought. But this marvelous work has just been re-released .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#26 Flipping channels tonight I was amazed to hear Al Gore, of all people .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#25 Hey, beginning logic students! Confused about the difference between "and" and "or"? Allow me to explicate .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#24 Oh no! I just found out that Loompanics Unlimited is going out of business .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#23 Brad Spangler writes: "It's time for libertarians to stop fighting the left and take up the challenge of leading the left." (Read the whole thing.) Social Memory Complex says amen, but adds the caveat that we need to work on redefining the term "left" to free it of its association with state socialism. I too say amen to Brad's comment, but with a caveat from the other direction .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#22 An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#21 How can you help Cory Maye -- who from the facts I've seen shouldn't even be in prison, let alone facing execution? .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#20 A number of Robert E. Howard's classic heroic-fantasy works are being reissued in new editions, including Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane, and all the original Conan stories .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#19 The discussion of my recent posts Left Behind, Ties that Bind, and Alienation, Assassination, and Inflation continues on LRC blog. Here are some excerpts, with comments from your humble correspondent .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#18 I first read the libretto of Die Fledermaus when I was about ten or so. Why? I believe it was because I'd encountered a bat-like creature .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#17 A couple of comments I've received on my post Ties That Bind .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#16 The Molinari Institute is pleased to announce that later this year we will begin publishing a magazine of radical libertarian political and social analysis titled The Industrial Radical .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#15 My friend Norm Singleton (who happens to be Ron Paul's legislative assistant) has a post on LRC blog today commenting on a post of mine last month on what I called "knee-jerk anti-leftism" in some libertarian circles. Norm says he largely agrees with me, but does note one point of disagreement .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#14 Would fractional-reserve banking be objectionable in a genuine market context? .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#13 I used to be a libertarian, and an anarchist. As recently as yesterday, in fact. But I've had a revelation .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#12 Hey bloggers -- don't let the Cory Maye story slide into your archives .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#11 More miscellaneous materials: Did hurricane Katrina affect New Orleans residents equally, regardless of race or class, as some are now saying? Ben Kilpatrick has an interesting article on this subject .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#10 The Mises Institute is considering publishing a high-quality 1300-page print copy of Murray Rothbard's 1969-1984 periodical Libertarian Forum .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#09 Various stuff: My 2003 article "The Value in Friendship" is now online .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#08 Just a reminder: the best science-fiction series currently on tv returns from hiatus tomorrow night .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#07 The first round of voting in the libertarian academic blog contest at Liberty and Power is over; Mises Blog won a plurality, but not yet an absolute majority, in the best group blog category (and your, ahem, humble correspondent likewise won a plurality, but not yet an absolute majority, in the individual blog category). So now run-off voting is starting .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#06 The latest issue (19.4) of the Journal of Libertarian Studies is out this week, with lots of cool new stuff .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#05 As I write this, several different major news channels are covering the recent Sago mining disaster and asking loudly "what went wrong?" But it turns out that by "what went wrong?" they mean not "what caused the explosion?" but "how did the miners' families get misinformed about who had survived?" .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#04 As a complement to recent posts by fellow left-libertarian blogospheroids Brad Spangler and Black Guile on the possible structures of legal/defensive and other associations under market anarchism, I'd like to recommend .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#03 I know this is a week late -- or 51 weeks early -- but I can't resist posting this great pic .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#02 Happy new year to all! I'm back from NYC, where our department interviewed thirteen candidates, all quite good philosophers; it looks like we've got a strong prospect of adding a top-notch colleague this year. The Molinari Society also held its second annual symposium there .... http://praxeology.net/unblog01-06.htm#01