Our Molinari/C4SS panel at the 2018 APEE:
Roderick T. Long, Nathan Goodman, Gary Chartier, Jason Lee Byas
I Was Somewhere Around Barstow Etc. Part Deux
Tag Archives | Personal
Left-Libertarians at Libertopia
[cross-posted at C4SS and BHL]
Next month (3-6 May) in San Diego I’ll be speaking at the Libertopia conference, which is back after several years’ hiatus. Here’s my topic and abstract:
Hoppean Libertarianism as Right-Wing Tribalism: A Critique
Roderick T. LongOne of the main conduits by which many libertarians in recent years have been drawn into the orbit of the Alt-Right is the work of Hans-Hermann Hoppe. I argue that Hoppe’s views on such matters as racial difference, immigration, monarchism, and the desirability of culturally homogeneous communities are systematically mistaken, as well as incompatible with a libertarian understanding of human action.
My Molinari Institute / Center for a Stateless Society / Alliance of the Libertarian Left / Bleeding Heart Libertarians colleague Gary Chartier will also be speaking; here’s his topic and abstract:
How to Think About the Constitution
Gary ChartierLibertarians often defend particular theories of constitutional interpretation. But, at least for those who are skeptical about standard defenses of state authority, there’s a prior question: are we obligated to follow the Constitution? If we’re not, I suggest, then there’s no right answer to questions about the right way to read the Constitution. Instead, we should make constitutional arguments likely to advance liberty.
Other speakers include David Friedman, Scott Horton, Jeff Tucker, Spencer MacCallum, and many more. Check it out!
I Was Somewhere Around Barstow on the Edge of the Desert When the Memes Began to Take Hold
I’m back from my travels. In addition to my panels, I hung out with old friends in (though not from) San Diego, revisited old haunts (Ocean Beach, Cabrillo Monument, Old Town, Little Italy, Coronado, and Balboa Park), discovered two excellent breakfast places for terrific omelettes (Harbor Breakfast and Curadero), and rediscovered a third (Breakfast Republic).
On Sunday I rented a car and drove to Las Vegas across the Mojave Desert (via Barstow, indeed) for my next conference. It was wonderful to see Western vistas again, with horizons as they should be (i.e., far away, and featuring mountains peeking out behind mountains peeking out behind other mountains).
In Vegas I hung out with the Molinari/C4SS contingent. Randy Holcombe and Mike Munger both gave very left-libertarian presentations about crony capitalism, though they fell short of drawing the full left-libertarian anarchist moral.
Upcoming Panels: Marriage and Anarchy
[cross-posted at BHL]
Two Molinari/C4SS panels are coming up at two different conferences later this week:
1. The Molinari Society will be holding its mostly-annual Pacific Symposium in conjunction with the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association in San Diego, March 28-April 1, 2018. Here’s the schedule info:
Molinari Society symposium:
Author Meets Critics: Gary Chartier’s Public Practice, Private Law: An Essay on Love, Marriage, and the State
G9C. Friday, 30 March 2018, 7:00-10:00 p.m. (or so), Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, 910 Broadway Circle, San Diego CA, room TBA
chair:
Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)critics:
Jennifer Lockhart (Auburn University)
Lori Watson (New Mexico State University)
Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)author:
Gary Chartier (La Sierra University)
2. We’ve also organised a panel at the Association of Private Enterprise Education conference in Las Vegas, April 1-4, 2018. Here’s the schedule info:
Topics in Free-Market Anarchism
4.A.6.. Wednesday, 4 April 2018, 8:00-9:15 a.m., Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd S., Las Vegas NV, room TBA.
chair:
Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)panelists:
Gary Chartier (La Sierra University)
Jason Lee Byas (University of Illinois)
Nathan Goodman (George Mason University)
Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)
Nathan is also on a bunch of other panels; he’ll be speaking on “Social Capital and Social Justice: Why Liberalism is Essential” (Monday at 1:10 p.m.), “Voluntary Associations as an Alternative to State Social Welfare Provision” (Monday at 2:30 p.m.), “The Political Economy of Whistleblowers” (Tuesday at 8:00 a.m.), and “Policing, Civil Society, and External Aid: A Polycentric Perspective” (Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.).
In other news, for a brief report on the recent PPE Society meeting in New Orleans, see here.
To and Fro Upon the Earth
Last week I gave a talk on Lockean vs. Kantian takes on property rights in a state of nature at the PPE Society meeting in New Orleans. The conference had loads of libertarian academics; check out the participant list. Ann Cudd gave a keynote address criticising libertarians for being social atomists who don’t believe in any positive moral obligations; she seemed genuinely surprised that the assembled libertarians took exception to this characterisation. As a culminating irony she even offered, as a supposed critique of libertarianism, an analysis of Robinson Crusoe virtually identical to Bastiat’s.
(Incidentally, for anyone visiting New Orleans I highly recommend the shrimp and grits at Café Fleur de Lis and, as always, anything at Sukho Thai.)
Upon my return, I gave a talk on the relation between philosophical thought-experiments and fantastic fiction at the Auburn Philosophy Club’s panel on Fantasy, Fiction, and Philosophy here in Auburn.
Tomorrow I leave for gigs at the Pacific APA in San Diego and the APEE in Las Vegas; see the next post for details.
Then I’ll be coming back just in time for the Auburn Philosophy department’s conference on Practical Reasoning.
Alt-White Karma
I confess to a certain Schadenfreude about this.