Question:
Why couldn't the Mises Institute found its own private university?
This university could be both entirely private and entirely online. No physical campus would be necessary.
Professors and scholars associated with the Mises Institute could teach or lead classes from their homes or offices. Possibly, teachers could be paid more along the lines of a market model, perhaps according to the number of students who sign up for their classes. The Institute wouldn't have to shoulder the burden of paying the teachers since teachers would be paid according to enrollment.
The Mises Institute could act as the unifying organizer of the structure of the university, but the university itself could be largely self-financing and decentralized. As people enroll, money becomes available, and teachers are hired.
Mises University could possibly be founded as a social science university providing degrees in economics, philosophy, ethics, etc...
If state or federal requirements for providing degrees are too restrictive, then the Institute could possibly decide to design their own programs and confer their own "degrees" that were totally independent of government approved degrees. I.e., Just start something altogether new having nothing to do with the existing university system. (just as Mises's own seminars were largely conducted outside of the government university system)
A Mises University could be a place where libertarian scholars from around the world could come to learn and to teach. It could be a leading model for a movement to erect libertarian social structures outside of or coexisting with the older state-run and geographical-centered system.
Why couldn't it be done?
Why shouldn't it be done?
"It would be preposterous to assert apodictically that science will never succeed in developing a praxeological aprioristic doctrine of political organization..." (Mises, UF, p.98)
That's an interesting idea. But mises.org already has a huge amount of literature, a bookshop, a forum for discussion and recordings of lectures/speeches.
What more could be really necessary? There are only a few significant differences between what could be gained by attending an online university, and just using this website:
I'm trying to get into graduate school and if I do, I would love nothing more then to teach at Mises University [ the type you speak of ] That would basically be my dream job.,
'It is difficult to imagine any normal person wishing to meet Marx for a third time.' - Alexander Gray, The Socialist Tradition
Ditto that. (having completed grad school)
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David Z
"The issue is always the same, the government or the market. There is no third solution."
Hi David.
Thank you for your input.
My reply: Let the market decide.
In the words of that great philospher Kevin Costner: "Build it and they will come"
: - )
Adam Knott: Hi David. Thank you for your input. My reply: Let the market decide. In the words of that great philospher Kevin Costner: "Build it and they will come" : - )
It's almost a grantee with all these conservative parents complaining about sending their kids to socialist colleges.
Given the passion shown for various scholars (Hoppe, Long, Block, Hulsmann, etc.) I have observed from many of the people who post here at the forum, my opinion is that many of them would be willing pay to take classes directly from their favorite scholar or professor (access to direct contact, help with working through ideas, etc...)
A Mises University might make libertarian scholars less dependent on the State to make a living.....
Years ago, a friend of mine had small children, and I used to send him Hillsdale College literature, since he is/was a Christian conservative.
Why not an Austro-Libertarian university ? Where's the prohibitive expense if it's totally online? No physical campus as overhead ? Teachers and students need not relocate.
What precludes it in principle ?
Laughing Man: Adam Knott: Hi David. Thank you for your input. My reply: Let the market decide. In the words of that great philospher Kevin Costner: "Build it and they will come" : - ) It's almost a grantee with all these conservative parents complaining about sending their kids to socialist colleges.
I think online studies you lose the face to face interaction that is vital to academia. I think an actual university would be a great idea which perhaps offers online courses. However I'm skeptical of a totally online university.
An actual university, I would be interested in (not that I would probably be able to ever attend it - probably a good 10 hours flight away from where I live). I've studied a paper at university by correspondence, and I missed out on a lot of learning that requires you to be face-to-face. The best paper I've ever had was one where (as well as lectures, tutorials etc) the lecturer stayed at the university for some time after the lecture had finished (sometimes until after dark..) drinking tea and talking etc. Still, it does seem some people would be interested in a purely online university..
Have you checked out?
http://mises.org/events/110
There's no point. It's better for liberty and more productive for Austrolibertarian scholars to do research than waste time teaching students.
Plus, there are already universities with many like-minded academics (e.g. Loyola, George Mason University, NYU). Just apply to one of those.
Laughing Man:I think online studies you lose the face to face interaction that is vital to academia.
True, but I would rather see Mises start with an online university and then expand later to a physical campus when they can afford it. I think making it into an online university is a fantastic idea. I think it would generate more interest and get it more recognition in the mainstream. At the least, people could say they had a degree from Mises university, which might spark more conversations with other people.
At most, 5% of the population would need to stop complying to bring down the government.
Self education and research seems to be a driving force behind Mises.org. While a full-fledged traditional university would be cool, how many of the excellent people who contribute would be unable to do what they do now? I'd also suggest that the last thing to do in spreading the word is to draw professors away from other universities and colleges where they may be more effective in converting students to our position.
Mises University is growing every year. Eventually there will definitely be a demand for a full time university, especially as more people become disenchanted with the status quo. I would hope in time not only would there be a full time Mises University, but that Austrian Economics would be taught as a main stream school of economic thought in every university.
I think this is an awesome idea. I've always thought that there should be a university that specialized in the social sciences, as social sciences are conceived by the Austrian methodology (methodological individualism). I would definitely pay money to take classes at a university that taught the ideas of Praxeology. My views are in line with Mises' view that Praxeology is the foundation of the social sciences, much like mathematics is the foundation of the physical sciences. Think of MIT for the social sciences (minus any politics or bureaucracy)
One thing we might do is research how other universities (that align closely to our wants for a university) got their start.
Only ideas can overcome ideas...
K.C. Farmer:While a full-fledged traditional university would be cool, how many of the excellent people who contribute would be unable to do what they do now?
The faculty does not have to be made up of the current faculty. And if they did it, it would be their choice, meaning they would feel it would be more valuable than teaching at another university.
Sukrit Sabhlok:There's no point. It's better for liberty and more productive for Austrolibertarian scholars to do research than waste time teaching students.
Students are what advance the cause.
Spideynw: Laughing Man:I think online studies you lose the face to face interaction that is vital to academia. True, but I would rather see Mises start with an online university and then expand later to a physical campus when they can afford it. I think making it into an online university is a fantastic idea. I think it would generate more interest and get it more recognition in the mainstream. At the least, people could say they had a degree from Mises university, which might spark more conversations with other people.
As I see it, the material experiences of education (face to face instruction, dorm room or campus life, etc..) are important to some. But they increase the expense of education and make it prohibitively expensive (one reason the State intervenes....). This doesn't even take into account the "relocation barrier." For example, how many students from the UK might be expected to attend a physical versus online Mises University? Maybe such material experiences could be an option that is somehow offered as an addition to the base education. But here again, the market could decide.
Spideynw: K.C. Farmer:While a full-fledged traditional university would be cool, how many of the excellent people who contribute would be unable to do what they do now? The faculty does not have to be made up of the current faculty. And if they did it, it would be their choice, meaning they would feel it would be more valuable than teaching at another university.
In fact, an important part of libertarian social theory holds that government creates artificial scarcity through licensing and other restrictions. A truly private university could decide on its own who would teach, without reference to the State accrediting bureau. The university puts out a "product," and the customers decide....
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