Monthly Archives: January 2009

Murray Rothbard’s obscure case for the obvious

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on January 27, 2009

Libertarians are not doing themselves a favor by taking on the burden of proof to argue for something that most people take for granted. Bryan Caplan makes a similar point about Murray Rothbard’s defense of “libertarian rights:” I object that … Continue reading →

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Karl Popper’s authoritarian social technologies

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on January 20, 2009

Karl Popper is known for his influential contributions to the philosophy of science and critical rationalism.  Unfortunately, his attempt to apply critical rationalism to political philosophy produced writings of a more impatient and dubious nature. For example, in 1960 Popper … Continue reading →

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Crass Keynesianism

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on January 16, 2009

A recurrent comment about public policies inspired by Keynesian economics is that they are crass or vulgar. Instead of seeing a complicated  and unpredictable interplay of individuals pursuing their own ends, society is perceived as a giant machine (“the economy”) … Continue reading →

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