Free Thoughts

Bart J. Wilson explores how humans acquire, perceive, and know the custom of property, and why this might be relevant to understanding how property works in the twenty-first century. What is experimental economics? How does property work? What chaos ensues when property rights do not exist? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Klein explains how on regular issues of policy reform—presupposing a stable integrated polity— Hume, Smith, and Burke were liberal in the original political meaning of “liberal.” Thus, on policy reform, although they accorded the status quo a certain presumption (as any reasonable person must), the more distinctive feature is that they maintained (even propounded, most plainly in Smith’s ca...

Jason Kuznicki describes two common theories of gender, both of which have viable critiques. He goes on to describe a theory of gender that is neither essentialist nor constructivist, but something else entirely – a liberal and individualist account of gender. What is the difference between sex and gender? What’s an essentialist account of gender? What’s a constructionist account of...

John Thrasher discusses a framework for comparing the economic systems of capitalism, feudalism, and socialism, and their roles in a range of contemporary issues, such as climate change, competitive consumption, unemployment, taxation, social inequality, global trade, and intrusion of markets into taboo areas. Why do people dislike capitalism? Why did people think capitalism was a good idea to beg...

Jonathan Anomaly takes seriously the diversity of preferences parents have, and the limits of public policy in regulating what could soon be a global market for reproductive technology. He argues that once embryo selection for complex traits happens it will change the moral landscape by altering the incentives parents face. What will happen in the next 10-20 years with CRISPR? What is embryo selec...

Steven Pittz defines what a free spirit is in addition to detailing how liberalism affects our ability to connect to our spirituality. Some argue that liberalism has detached us from a sense of meaning, but is that true? Has liberalism made us detached from spiritualism? What is spiritual fullness? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two decades into the 21st Century, the U.S. is less united than at any time in our history since the Civil War. We are more diverse in our beliefs and culture than ever before. But red and blue states, secular and religious groups, liberal and conservative idealists, and Republican and Democratic representatives all have one thing in common: each believes their distinct cultures and liberties are...

Max Borders is a futurist who believes humanity is already building systems that will “underthrow” great centers of power. He believes that decentralization holds great promise. This decentralization will revolutionize we live and interact with eachother. Was the movement in to hierarchy part of human nature? What is holacracy? What is the social singularity? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Chris Freiman addresses new objections to political abstention. Because participating in politics is not an effective way to do good, Freiman argues that we actually have a moral duty to disengage from politics and instead take direct action to make the world a better place. Is abstaining from politics permissible? Is it impossible to ignore politics? Why should we care about the quality of someon...

We invited Kevin Vallier and Chad Van Schoelandt to the show to talk about their teacher and mentor, Gerald Gaus. Gerry was not like a lot of public reason types who are just trying to identify the conditions for something as abstract and distant as a well‐ordered society. Gaus started very much from where we are in a way that is much more like Hayek than Rawls. How do you justify rules? How do yo...

When you drive through any major U.S. city you will notice that there are areas filled with shops, restaurants, and office buildings, but one block over is solely single-family residential housing. Zoning regulations have stopped the redevelopment process in many of the highest demand parts of the country. But cities like Houston are finding that without zoning regulations there is more affordable...

Renee J. Mitchell is an expert in policing research with a professional background in law enforcement. As a 22‐​year member of the Sacramento Police Department, she served in patrol, detectives, recruiting, schools, and the Regional Transit System. Trevor and Aaron ask her about her experience as a police officer and how police culture varies widely throughout the United States. Wha...

Michael Munger, explains the benefits, and in fact the necessity, of capitalism in organizing human cooperation at scale, and urges the consideration of some problems inherent in capitalism. Munger claims every flaw in markets is worse under socialism. Unless you are willing to advocate monarchism, or actual communist dictatorship, markets and democracy are the only two mechanisms we have for orga...

Murray Rothbard was, at the very least, one the top three libertarian thinkers in the 20th century. He was a prolific writer as the author of dozens of books, articles, and essays. Cory Massimino joins the show to discuss Rothbard's brand of anarchism. What does it mean to be paleoconservative? What is the New Left? What do they believe? Who influenced Murray Rothbard? Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

Classically speaking, freedom of speech refers to freedom from state censorship. There are three distinct questions that the current debate over “free speech” runs together in a sloppy fashion: is the state engaging in acts of censorship? Are social sanctions against speech or beliefs too harsh? Is our media ecosystem sufficiently open? Failure to disentangle these questions has resulted in the cu...

Postmodernism is a serious view with important implications. Postmodernism can be used to think through questions about nature of morality, science, and social institutions—yielding answers that both challenge and help advance libertarianism and the case for a free society. What is postmodernism? Does postmodernism deny objective reality? How did Kant influence postmodernism? What is consciousness...

Climate change is real, but it does not pose the apocalyptic threat that we have all been told time and again. When you use bad science, and even worse economics, it creates a panic and that very panic is a problem we see with global warming. What is the problem with climate alarmism? What’s the scientific value in making a model that assumes nobody will respond to incentives? Are t...

In Randy Barnett and Josh Blackman's latest book, they write about the 100 Supreme Court cases everyone should know. Their hope is that their book will help teachers and professors teach constitutional law in an organized fashion. They cleanly laid out the history of constitutional law to illustrate how doctrine has shifted over time. Could we have ended up in a different place if we did not inter...

Emily Ekins comes back on the show to talk about her latest polling work that included many questions about an individuals' locus of control. The discussion ultimately comes down to how can we improve the happiness and meaning in our own lives and those around us. Do you have a favorable view of capitalism or socialism? Are there different types of envy? How does personal responsibility play a rol...

Most people think of themselves as a largely decent human being. We also think of our friends and family members as at least decent people. No one is a saint, but many people we interact with are honest, kind, and humble. But, Christian Miller discovers in his book that if you look at recent psychological studies closely many people regularly fail to acknowledge significant character fla...

We want to be seen as taking the moral high ground not just to make a point, or move a debate forward, but to look a certain way — incensed, or compassionate, or committed to a cause. Another word for this type of discourse is grandstanding. Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke join the show to talk about how grandstanding affects our day to day political discourse. As politics gets...

From Frederick Douglass's advice to keep "a good revolver" handy as defense against slave catchers to the armed self-protection of Monroe, North Carolina, blacks against the KKK chronicled in Robert Williams's Negroes with Guns , it is clear that owning firearms was commonplace in the black community. Do blacks have a different view on gun control? Who was Don Kates and how did he fight for the se...

Matt Zwolinksi returns to the show to discuss what’s next now that the Bleeding Heart Libertarian blog has ended its’ after a nine year run. He starts by describing how the blog came to be and what he learned about libertarianism and its’ history. Zwolinski hopes that people think of libertarianism and social justice as not incompatible and that we can work to forge political alliances, not j...

Individual voters have little chance of making a difference, and they also face strong incentives to remain ignorant about the issues at stake. But, “Voting with your feet,” avoids these common pitfalls. There are three types of “voting with your feet” that, when acting concurrently, are mutually reenforcing. What is “footing with your feet”? When you “vote with your feet”, does your vote matter m...

U.S. Representative Justin Amash from the 3rd Congressional District of Michigan has been in Congress since 2011 and in that time period he has seen many of his colleague chose party over principles. In 2019, he announced that he was leaving the Republican Party. He views the two-party system as an existential threat to American politics and institutions. Do Congressmen have principles? Did Trump...