The Street Porter and the Philosopher

Erwin Dekker , historian of economic thought and a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center , joins Henry Oliver to discuss his book, The Viennese Students of Civilization . They explore the intellectual world that shaped F. A. Hayek, how Austrian liberalism differs from rights-based, utilitarian, and libertarian traditions, why markets and law should be understood as evolved cultural institu...

Welcome to the sixth episode of our new podcast season about liberalism and the arts. Zena Hitz, founder of the Catherine Project, and Hollis Robbins, professor of English, join Rebecca Lowe to read and debate the Declaration of Independence. They discuss its place in American life and education, its political context, its poetic and rhetorical qualities, its powerful impact over time, and much mo...

Welcome to the fifth episode of our new podcast season about liberalism and the arts. Celeste Marcus, executive editor of Liberties and author of the first English-language biography of Chaïm Soutine, joins Henry Oliver to discuss Soutine's life and work. They explore his journey from a small village near Minsk to the center of the Paris art world, his obsession with artistic originality, and the...

Welcome to the fourth episode of our new podcast season about liberalism and the arts. Tyler Cowen is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University, the co-author of the Marginal Revolution blog, and the writer of many books, including, most recently, The Marginal Revolution: Rise and Decline, and the Pending AI Revolution. He joins Rebecca Lowe to discuss whether Britten’s W...

This episode features Christopher Scalia, a literary scholar, essayist, and author of “13 Novels Conservatives Will Love (but Probably Haven’t Read).” He joins Henry Oliver to discuss Henry Adams’s “Democracy,” a sharp and darkly comic novel about power, corruption, and political life in Washington D.C. They discuss whether democracy can survive cynicism, the moral compromises of politics, the rel...

This episode features Cass Sunstein, leading legal scholar, bestselling author, and one of the most influential thinkers on liberalism, law, and public policy. He joins Rebecca Lowe to explore the relationship between the arts and liberalism. They discuss what makes a work of art “liberal,” the representation and role of choice in music and popular culture, the moral and aesthetic limits of politi...

Welcome to the first episode of our new podcast season about Liberalism and the Arts, with our guest Sunil Iyengar who directs the Office of Research & Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. Sunil sits down with Henry Oliver to discuss the state of reading in America, including the long-term decline in book and literature reading, the growth of audiobooks and digital formats, what these...

Last week, Cass Sunstein gave the inaugural Emerging Scholars Lecture at the Mercatus Center, where both of us work. We’re delighted to share the transcript and recording of his talk, 'Hayekian Behavioral Economics', here on our Pursuit of Liberalism substack. We hope you enjoy it! Henry and Rebecca. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access t...

In this episode, Henry and Rebecca discuss the liberalism of the poet Seamus Heaney. Henry thinks it’s Heaney’s individualism that makes him a liberal. Rebecca thinks that Heaney’s focus on depicting reality is just as important, to this end, if not more so. But they agree that he’s really great… [Transcript coming soon!] Thanks to GPT for the picture! This is a public episode. If you would like t...

In this episode, Henry and Rebecca discuss the liberalism of the late playwright Tom Stoppard. Henry thinks he’s “one of the great geniuses of English literature”. Rebecca is a little less sure. But they agree that his plays offer a great route into debating liberalism… [Transcript coming soon!] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bon...