Recent Podcast Episodes

Delivered at the Mises Institute on July 6, 2006.

From the book For A New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, as narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.

From the book For A New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, as narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.

A legal system is an institution to provide dispute resolution through judicial, legislative and executive functions. The state is that which maintains in large part a monopoly over force, geography and the legal system.

From the book For A New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, as narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.

When can you respond to force? The four response positions range from “never” to “impose by force some further penalty on them”. A person’s capacity must be considered. Compensation instead of punishment is generally a libertarian society’s choice.

Special lecture presented at the Mises Institute on 29 June 2006.

Does libertarianism require widespread acceptance of certain cultural values? One end of the spectrum says yes [thick libertarianism]. The other end says libertarianism does not require any other set of values except the non-aggression principle – the right not to have force initiated against them [thin libertarianism].

We have a right not to be aggressed against. Any other right has to be an application of my right not to have force initiated against me. Now, we need to do this with property rights. We need to treat the violation of property as aggression against self.

Now we go from ethics to liberty. Justice, narrowly, is a legitimately enforceable claim. What is the consideration between justice, rights and utility? Justice seems more rule-oriented than rights. Libertarian rights theory can consider consequences.

Special lecture presented at the Mises Institute, 27 June 2006

Everyone has an ultimate end. What should the content of this end be? No concept of happiness exists without integrating the interest of others. Being an agent is being a living organism. Living organisms have needs. Aristotle feels humans are neither beasts nor God. Morality requires a minimum of prudence (self) and benevolence (others).

Why should I care about anyone else but myself? We each have our own values to pursue. Is all valuation relative or neutral? The values we actually use seem to be agent neutral. We endorse these values both for ourselves and for others. Hobbes says that in a state of nature it is legitimate for everybody to do what they want. Socrates said that once you recognize that something is worth admiring, you will integrate it into your life.

Economics deals with the preferences you are actually acting on. The judgment you are not acting on could still be around. So, action does not imply total judgment.

Claims of ultimate ends, like happiness or well-being, are impossible, says Hobbes. In this life, the fact that you are still acting shows that you have not achieved any ultimate end. Does action really express dissatisfaction? You can act to keep something happening, rather than to try to change things.

Praxeology is a set of conceptual tools about the theory of action. It is the basis of economic theory. Whereas much has been fleshed out about the economics of human action, there is little about the ethics and natural rights of human action.

From the book For A New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, as narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.

Loan banking is non-inflationary. Interest rates on loans are merely reflective of price spreads. All speculation, on the free-market, is self-correcting and speeds adjustment, rather than cause economic trouble.

Barter – direct exchange- is inefficient because of the lack of a double coincidence of wants. Some third medium was sought to solve this. It is called money. Exchanges are not equal, they are win-win, with each party gaining more than he is giving or the exchange would not be made.

Naturally occurring monopolies do not last long. Competition emerges to upset them. The sovereignty of the individual defines the free market. The only monopolies that do persist are those maintained by government interventions.