Philosophy and Methodology

I am the first Englishman and the first professional philosopher to receive the Schlarbaum Prize. So it seems appropriate to begin by talking about the greatest English philosopher, John Locke.

Ten years ago, Pope John Paul II released Centesimus Annus, an encyclical, at once subtle and sweeping, that addressed the future of the post-communist countries of Europe and the general subject of freedom, society, and faith. Jeff Tucker recalls its meaning.

The pessimistic scenario is not only that American businessmen, students, and tourists will forever fear to travel in any nation with a Muslim community. It could also mean disinvestment overseas, the further impoverishment of the developing world, a lasting world depression, a world split into major warring blocks, and police-state policies at home.

Economists of the Austrian School not only understood that markets can fail if measured by an unrealistic and unrealizable standard. Ludwig von Mises emphasized the "uncertainty inherent in every action."

Middle-class property owners of the world, disunite. You have a world to win back. Joseph Stromberg reviews Hans-Hermann Hoppe's, Democracy: The God That Failed. 

In a usual wartime situation, the government massively expands and then falls back only partially after it is over. The present circumstances, however, are even worse than wartime.

The most important book in the history of economics was first published more than two and a half centuries ago, but this brilliant work by Richard Cantillon remains a must-read for professional economists and laymen alike.  

Parents and kids should realize that learning principles of economics and business is not about propaganda-spouting: it is about logic, thinking, and problem solving.

Groupthink is a process of gradualism that seeks to gently merge the followers into a pack with leaders.

A long-out-of-print work makes the case for privatizing everything. Robert Murphy is the reviewer.