This weekend I’m off to the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, to give a couple of lectures at one of their conferences for students. This will be my first visit to FEE, which is (I believe) the oldest libertarian think tank in existence.
As you can see from the schedule, it’s a fairly radical, mostly-anarchist (possibly all-anarchist) lineup of speakers: Walter Block on privatisation and reparations, Bryan Caplan on irrational voters and whatever “Less Than Minimum” is (I’m guessing it concerns minimum wage?), Jeff Hummel on the Great Depression and Anti-Federalism, Sandy Ikeda on interventionism and private neighbourhoods, Jim Otteson on global ethics and Adam Smith, Ben Powell on immigration and Somali law, and Ed Stringham on private law in general and the Dutch experience with private law in particular. My own lectures are on “Equality, the Unknown Ideal” (drawing on my discussions here and here) and “Thick Libertarianism” (see my handout here).
Unfortunately, I can’t stay for the whole week – because on the 17th I head to Indianapolis for a Liberty Fund conference (run by David Beito) on Zora Neale Hurston, focusing on both her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God and on her nonfiction political essays. (In passing: I’ve probably said this before, but someone should really do a study of the possible influence of Hurston’s Moses, Man of the Mountain on the early chapters of Rose Wilder Lane’s Discovery of Freedom.)
I’ve been to Indianapolis a number of times and I’ve never gotten to the art museum (though I’ve been to the rather creepy war monument quite often enough); this time I’ll really try to make it there.
Wow, I’m jealous. I did a Liberty Fund colloquium once, on Natural Law and Constitutional Jurisprudence; it was one of my most enjoyable academic experiences ever. Have a great time!
And I can’t make it to FEE this weekend 🙁
You’ve never been to FEE until now–shame on you! It’s a great place for a seminar. It’s like you’re part of a family for the whole week.
I was fortunate enough to go there first back in July 1994. I got to meet Ed Opitz. Bettina Bien Greaves was still in her office. Sennholz was President, and he’s gone as well. Everyone there was wonderful.
This was also before Robert Bidinotto burned all his bridges there. Bidinotto actually gave the best talk of the whole week. He is now a neo-con warhawk.
I’m jealous too. What a lineup. We need more Mises and Anarchism over here in the UK! Have a great time, Roderick.
Hey Roderick,
It seems to me there might be something of a typo in your thick/thin handout. In the descriptions of each of the four types of thickness starting with Strategic, it seems like the phrase “value/commitment X because although X can be rejected with contradicting NAP” would make more sense as “value/commitment X because although X can be rejected withOUT contradicting NAP.”
Well, darn.
Okay, handout fixed. Thanks!