Pareto, in his study of society, and Haight in his study of emotions, and perhaps Axelrod as well in his study of human cooperation, do not attribute to Status Signaling the importance which it deserves. Haight is far too interested [...]
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I’ve read Hayek’s The Constitution Of Liberty twice again lately while editing it so that I could convert the text to spoken audio. The resulting audio is imperfect — because my editing of the multitude of optically recognized characters is [...]
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The term ‘Freedom’, and its near relation ‘Liberty’, have a long heritage. The babylonian words “ama-gi”, meaning “Return To The Mother”, written in cuneiform, are often cited by Libertarians as the first written use [...]
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I dont like to criticize postings at the Mises Institute, of whom I have been a member and supporter for almost a decade. It is far less work to improve on small errors than to solve catastrophic ones. And [...]
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I’ve been asked quite a few times what I mean by “calculation.” My editor, among others, has stated that I’m not clear. So I’m going to try to put this in context.
CALCULATION
The English word derives from the [...]
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The horrid natural impact of laws was something surprising to me. We have for well over two thousand years been subject to a method of thought and a political tool that was designed for managing slaves: law. And slavery is [...]
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Capitalism 3.0
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/02/capitalism-30.html
Over on the Economist’s View there are a whole series of comments that negatively reflect on capitalism. This is my response.
All,
I am amazed reading these comments. What is it about this blog that [...]
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We have dictionaries.
We have thesauruses.
We have encyclopedias.
We have Adler’s Syntopicon.
What we need is a tome, a book, for causal relationships: a worldwide list of the metaphysical assumptions that people use to [...]
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This is the abstract for the paper I’m working on.
“ABSTRACT
The success of the Rothbard-Hoppe research program as demonstrated by the explanatory power of the ethics of property is offset by the failure of the three major philosophical [...]
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In response to Felix Salmon on Portfolio.Com’s Market Movers:
Economic reasoning (actually all philosophical reasoning) is the study of processes from first causes to last causes. Any cause that is not first-cause is simply making assumptions. A practical person [...]
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About
Curt Doolittle
Seattle, WA, United States
"De Philosophia Aristocratia"
I am an independent theorist of Political Economy in the Austrian Libertarian tradition. As a methodological Propertarian, I support the Property and Freedom Society, The Mises Institute, and the Neo-Classical LIberalism Movement.Purpose
Anglo Conservatism is the remnant of Aristocratic philosophy and the Classical Liberal philosophy of the Enlightenment, combined with our ancient tribal instincts for group persistence and land-holding. It currently consists as a set of sentiments rather than as an articulated rational philosophy. And without that rational articulation, conservatives lack the ability to create and promote a plan that is a positive and rhetorically defensible alternative to the hazards of accidental bureaucracy and purposeful socialism.
This lack of an articulated philosophy leaves conservatives vulnerable in the public debate with Schumpeterian public intellectuals whose advantage in both volume of production, and simplicity of argument poses a nearly insurmountable challenge.
Libertarianism by contrast, is a rational philosophy of an articulate but permanent minority. It is based upon a solid, rational and critical methodology, even if it is flawed in its initial assumption: the principle of non-violence.
Unfortunately the Rothbardian Anarchist movement has appropriated the term "Libertarian", and left Classical Liberals and Conservatives alienated from the only system of thought with which they need to articulate their political sentiments in rational and empirical rather than moralistic and sentimental form.
By repairing the flaws in Libertarian philosophy we can use its methodology to provide a rhetorical solution for conservatives - a language which in turn may become an articulated philosophical body of argument and advocacy for the frustrated conservative majority.
Points To Ponder
Recent Posts
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Defining Capitalism
56 days ago -
Inverting The Argument: Inequality Is The Product Of Diversity
56 days ago -
Why Are Artificial Breasts All The Rage In Columbia?
57 days ago -
From Freedom To Slavery: The Five Evolutionary Stages Of Fiat Money
57 days ago -
Doolittle's Chart's On Political Preferences
64 days ago -
My Friend Karl Smith's Progressive Framing
64 days ago -
An Anti-Masculine Bias In Pornography Actors?
64 days ago -
Labor and Education Numbers Illustrate What's Wrong With Progressives And Keynesianism
64 days ago -
Keynesian Absurd Optimism
66 days ago -
Why Do Left-Leaning Economists Ignore IQ Data?
71 days ago
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Defining Capitalism