Keynes wrote that ideas, either right or wrong, are stronger than one might think. ‘Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. In this view, people exaggerate the power or influence of particular interests in particular circumstances on social changes, and undermine the importance
We attached a few texts as a starting point for the workshop: The first is a short fragment from ‘Human Action’ by Ludwig von Mises in which we find a description of the classical anti-sociologic position – the idea that there is no social act independent of the individual’s desires/ wishes; society is only an
How would an original constitution look if it enabled individuals that value freedom to keep it , at the same time finding a solution to combining their preferences in a single, efficient collective action? What methods can best represent the preferences of the members of the community? Which representative model is compatible with the liberty
What sort of education can better serve a liberty culture? What is the link between the educational content and the institutional system through which it is delivered? The conservatory thesis states that freedom from tradition, proclaimed by socialists (which asserts the beginnings of the social engineering project) is impossible. The argument is supported through the
Young and Block plead for private education only. In Enterprising Education: Doing Away with the Public School System’ they reject 3 basic arguments for public education: (1) education is a necessary condition for democracy, (2) the market cannot offer everyone access to quality education, (3) due to externalities, it’s more efficient that education should be provided
Hart asserts that if there are any moral rights at all, there is at least one fundamental natural right: the right to liberty. This right has 2 characteristics: (1) all people capable of choice have it, (2) is not generated by the voluntary action of people. The argument arises from the differences among rights, obligations,
What is and why is economic growth important? What is the role and nature of “The Industrial Revolution”? Human population and income inequality. What are the causes of sustained economic growth registered in the past 200 years? Some alternative hypothesis: nature, culture, institutions, luck. Causes for the persistent differences in per capita income among the
In the chapter about politics in “The Blank Slate”, Steven Pinker describes intellectual conflicts between the left and right and points out that they lead, largely, to a different theory about the human nature. The Left usually takes on a Utopic Vision, by which human natures is supposedly infinitely adaptable, whereas the Right adopts the
Unlike the functionalist theories of social selection, of equilibriums, or of selection within the institution market, Jack Knight proposes a new explanation in which the active factor is the strategic conflict between actors on distributive benefits resulting from the changes in various rules and norms. To read before the workshop: Jack Knight Selection, Bargaining Theory
In the essay Civilizational Competence: A Prerequisite of Post-communist Transition Piotr Sztompka explains post-communist transition through the concept of civilizational competence, while outlining the conditions which led to the emergence of the civilizational incompetence in the communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe. (Aura Matei presents) To read before the workshop: [Piotr Sztompka 1992] CIVILISATIONAL
