Philosophy and Methodology

Presented on 29 September 2004 at the Library of the Metropolitan Club, New York, New York. Sponsored by Mr. Kenneth M. Garschina.

In a famous essay written in 1906, Werner Sombart asked, Why Is There No Socialism in the United States? Whether one agrees with his analysis, his premise cannot be disputed: 

In a lifeboat situation, writes Murray Rothbard, we apparently have a war of all against all, and there seems at first to be no way to apply our theory of self-ownership or of property rights.

Americans have something in common with Iraqis, writes Lew Rockwell: experience has told us that when the government promises to bring us security, it means only that it wants more control over our lives.

The road to serfdom — in both Norway and America— is no coincidental detour, writes Ilana Mercer, but rather a well-charted destiny and often flows through mass political participation.

Ideological factors, especially comparative religions, are considered. Until 1500, China was the most developed region on the globe. Confucianism has no promise of an afterlife. There are no miracles for them. They are realistic and rational. Confucius is not a god or prophet. He is revered as a great teacher. His teachings are compatible with capitalism.

Utopian socialism was a term created by Marx and Lenin to denigrate the enemies of Marx and Lenin. Henri de Saint-Simon’s ideology of the industrial class, opposed to the idling class, inspired and influenced utopian socialism.

Mill played a crucial, but inflated, role in liberalism. Rothbard did not like Mill much. Mill was a disaster on economic freedom and international issues. Mill rejected that workers and capitalists shared interests. Mill was anti-capitalist.

In the face of overwhelming evidence of the prosperity of capitalism, Marxists were forced to rephrase their arguments from material provisions to quality of life. Robert Nozick, a brilliant philosopher of liberty, became a libertarian. Anarchy, State, and Utopia, his main book, dominates debate in political philosophy.

Intellectuals are pro-power and anti-market. Great presidents are war presidents who glorify power. The Costs of War and Reassessing the Presidency are recommended books on this topic. The First World War was a turning point which vastly extended state power, and vastly destroyed social power.