The Curious Task

Alex speaks with Mike Munger about the state of classical liberalism in an era in which conservatism seems intent on wielding the tools of central planning and the left prefers the term "progressive" to "liberal".

Episode Notes:

The Classical Liberal Diaspora by Mike Munger: https://t.co/xoRnPIUXXi 

The Articles of Confederation: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Articles-of-Confederation 

Preamble to the United States constitution: https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/us 

Fusionism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusionism 

Albert Jay Nock and The Remnant: https://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job 

Chile rewriting its constitution: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chilean-congressional-council-finalizes-new-draft-constitution-again-2023-10-30/ 

Sabine speaks with Lauren K Hall, who defends the notion that feminism is an emergent order, and speaks about her recent special edition of Cosmos+Taxis.

Episode Notes:

All articles in the most recent edition of Cosmos+Taxis are linked here:

https://cosmosandtaxis.org/current-issue/ 

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy "The Woman That Never Evolved":

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1khdr6b

Kimberle Crenshaw "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex:
A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination
Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics":

https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=uclf 

 

Matt speaks with Clara Piano about the relationship between economic freedom, fertility, and the roles that modernization and increasing well-being for women have on the number of babies that are born in countries around the world.

Episode Notes:

"The Fertility Gap and Economic Freedom" by Clara Piano & Lyman Stone https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4564080 

"The Fertility Benefits of Economic Freedom" by Clara E. Piano https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-fertility-benefits-of-economic-freedom 

"The Best Policy for Supporting Families Is “Do No Harm”" by Clara E. Piano https://www.aier.org/article/the-best-policy-for-supporting-families-is-do-no-harm/ 

Some history on "The Population Bomb" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/book-incited-worldwide-fear-overpopulation-180967499/ 

Sabine speaks with Sarah Skwire about the fascinating world of Shakespeare and why there are so many lessons we can learn from a pre-enlightenment playwright about markets, politics, and the human condition. 

Episode Notes:

- Mike Huemer's Post on Shakespeare: https://fakenous.substack.com/p/why-i-hate-shakespeare 

- "The Comedy of The Errors" https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-comedy-of-errors/read/#:~:text=Synopsis%3A,named%20Dromio%2C%20as%20their%20servants. 

- Sarah on Shakespeare and Immigration: https://fee.org/articles/even-shakespeare-knew-that-kicking-out-immigrants-harms-us-all/ 

- Adam Smith on Human Sympathy: https://www.adamsmithworks.org/documents/smith-on-sympathy-lauren-hall-12-1 

- Summary of Shakespeare's "Sir Thomas More": https://nosweatshakespeare.com/sir-thomas-more-play/ 

- Adam Smith's misrecollection of Othello https://www.adamsmithworks.org/speakings/skwire-smith-shakespeare-slips-end-of-othello 

- Intro to "Measure for Measure": https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/measure-for-measure/ 

- Commentary on the Political Theology of First Samuel: https://www.theologyofwork.org/old-testament/samuel-kings-chronicles-and-work/from-tribal-confederation-to-monarchy-1-samuel/ 

 

 

 

Alex speaks with David Friedman about defenses, definitions and critiques of Anarcho-Capitalism in David's work and in others'. 

Episode Notes:

- Summary of David's book "The Machinery of Freedom" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machinery_of_Freedom 

- Some of Ayn Rand's views on Libertarianism and Anarcho-Capitalism: http://aynrandlexicon.com/ayn-rand-ideas/ayn-rand-q-on-a-on-libertarianism.html 

- Some of David's comments on his Father's views of his work can be found here: https://www.econlib.org/archives/2011/07/david_friedmans_1.html 

- The Stanford Encyclopedia's entry on Anarchism https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anarchism/#:~:text=Libertarianism%20and%20anarcho%2Dcapitalism%20also,the%20idea%20of%20social%20development. 

- "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" - Robert A. Heinlein https://a.co/d/4gmWZrP 

- "The Private Enforcement of Law" - Landes and Posner https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=259376 

- "Law Enforcement, Malfeasance, and Compensation of Enforcers" - Gary S. Becker and George J. Stigler  https://laws21.classes.ryansafner.com/readings/Becker-Stigler-1974.pdf 

 

 

Matt speaks with Iain Murray about the estrangement of conservative liberalism from identitarian forms of conservative nationalism and the intriguing alliances that may arise in the future between freedom-loving libertarians and some unlikely allies. 

Episode Notes:

Iain's book "The Socialist Temptation" https://a.co/d/5AUQHQp 

One of Iain's articles on the subject https://cei.org/blog/european-populism-is-nationalist-conservatism/ 

"Do Libertarians Have a Political Home Anymore?" by Iain Murray https://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-35-number-1-2/do-libertarians-have-political-home-anymore 

Summary of Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy 

Ezra Klein's comment on "Everything Bagel Liberalism" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/02/opinion/democrats-liberalism.html 

Sabine speaks with Atlas Network's Brad Lips about what's in store for the liberty movement all over the world. 

Episode Notes: 

- The Atlas Network  https://www.atlasnetwork.org/who-we-are 

- Brad's book "Liberalism and the Free Society in 2021" https://a.co/d/0Bcor8q 

- The Free Market Foundation https://freemarketfoundation.com/ 

- Article summarizing Margaret Thatcher's relationship with Anthony Fisher https://philanthropydaily.com/margaret-thatcher-and-antony-fisher-free-markets-and-philanthropy/ 

- Watler Williams on South Africa https://www.annistonstar.com/the_st_clair_times/stclair_opinion/walter-williams-ridding-south-africa-of-apartheid-and-what-replaces-it-column/article_da26121e-ad32-11e8-ba86-7783725cd2d4.html 

- Centre for Civil Society in India https://ccs.in/ 

Matt speaks with Mark Mercer about academic freedom, the changing mission of universities themselves, and what role faculty, administrators, and students should play in shaping the future of the institution. 

References:

• Mark’s Interview in C2C Journal: https://c2cjournal.ca/2023/05/confronting-the-post-academic-university-in-conversation-with-mark-mercer/  
• Peter March at St. Mary’s: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/students-protest-prof-who-posted-cartoons-1.623017 
• Kathleen Lowrey at University of Alberta: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/u-of-a-professor-says-she-was-dismissed-over-views-that-biological-sex-trumps-transgender-identity-for-policy-decisions 
• Tomáš Hudlický at Brock University: https://niagaraindependent.ca/remembering-professor-tomas-hudlicky-and-how-poorly-brock-university-treated-him/ 
• The Chicago Principles: https://provost.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/documents/reports/FOECommitteeReport.pdf 

 

Alex speaks with Cory Massimino about the concept of prison abolition and how this position corresponds with natural rights theory and recent movements demanding the end of prisons as we know them. 

Read some of Cory’s published and unpublished pieces on prison abolition here: thttp://corymassimino.com/tag/prison-abolition/ 

Matt speaks with Seth Kaplan about his book Fragile Neighborhoods, and why a decision as simple as where we choose to live can often make the difference between lives of prosperity and lives of uncertainty and strife. 

Seth's book can be ordered here:

https://a.co/d/aqUzRny 

In March of 2023, Alex spoke with Noah Schwartz about gun control in Canada and how recent attempts to review firearms policy have failed to address root issues and the causes of violence and crime.

References

1. “On Target: Gun Culture, Storytelling, and the NRA” by Noah Schwartz

Link: https://www.amazon.ca/Target-Gun-Culture-Storytelling-NRA/dp/1487548443/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= 

2. “Firearms Act, 1995” by Justice Laws Website

Link: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/f-11.6/ 

3. “Firearms Licensing” by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Link: https://rcmp.ca/en/firearms/licensing 

4. “A Right to Bear Arms? Canadian Cases” by Leonid Sirota

Link: https://doubleaspect.blog/2012/04/15/a-right-to-bear-arms-canadian-cases/ 

5. “Nova Scotia Shooting Incident - Timeline” by Public Safety Canada

Link: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/brfng-mtrls/prlmntry-bndrs/20200730/021/index-en.aspx 

6. “Bill C-21” by the Parliament of Canada

Link: https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/c-21

In April of 2023, Alex speaks with Monica Guzman about the need for curiosity as a remedy for the increasing polarization in American discourse and her recent book on the subject "I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times"

Monica's book:

https://a.co/d/j6xKME7 

In this conversation from January 2020, Alex Aragona speaks with Kevin Vallier about conflicts in politics and how ideology aggravates them, and whether liberal institutions can help us trust each other more.

References from Episode 26 with Kevin Vallier:

• You can purchase Kevin Vallier’s book Must Politics be War here
• You can purchase the book Polarization: What Everyone Needs to Know here
• You can purchase From Politics to the Pews here

Alex speaks with Jayme Lemke about the life, work, and legacy of American Nobel Prize-winning political economist Elinor Ostrom.

References

1. “Elinor Ostrum and the Bloomington School: Building a New Approach to Policy and Social Sciences” by Jayme Lemke and Vlad Tarko

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Elinor-Ostrom-Bloomington-School-Building/dp/0228004152 

2. Elinor Ostrum Publications 

Link: https://ostromworkshop.indiana.edu/library/bibliographies/ostrom-elinor.html 

3. Elinor Ostrum Fellowship, Mercatus Centre

Link: https://www.mercatus.org/students/elinor-ostrom-fellowship

Sabine interviews our regular host Alex Aragona as they discuss the first 200 episodes of The Curious Task.

References

1. Camden Hutchison’s episode “Why Restrict Freedom of Expression” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/?s=hutchison 

2. Sigal Ben-Porath’s episode “How Can Speech Be Protected on Campus” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-11-sigal-ben-porath-%e2%80%94-how-can-speech-be-protected-on-campus/ 

3. Jacob Levy’s episode “What is Academic Freedom?” of The Curious Task Podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-137-jacob-levy-what-is-academic-freedom/ 

4. “Different Kinds and Degrees of Private Censorship Matter” by Alex Aragona

Link: https://speaking-liberally.com/2021/04/13/different-kinds-and-degrees-of-private-censorship-matter/ 

5. Nathan Goodman’s episode “What Does Immigration Have to Do With Climate Change” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-199-nathan-goodman-what-does-immigration-have-to-do-with-climate-change/ 

6. Fiona Harrigan’s episode “How Does Immigration Make Us Freer?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-188-fiona-harrigan-how-does-immigration-make-us-freer/ 

7. Chandran Kukuthas’ episode “What’s Wrong With Immigration Control?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-127-chandran-kukathas-what-s-wrong-with-immigration-control/ 

8. Sabine El-Chidiac and Peter Jaworski’s episode “Does Immigration Make A Better World?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-134-sabine-el-chidiac-and-peter-jaworski-does-immigration-make-a-better-world/

9. Paige MacPherson’s episode “What Does School Choice Look Like?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-151-paige-macpherson-what-does-school-choice-look-like/ 

10. James Tooley’s episode “Is Low-Cost Private Education Possible?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/special-episode-3-james-tooley%c2%a0%e2%80%94-is-low-cost-private-education-possible/ 

11. James Harrigan’s episode “What’s Wrong With Utopias?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-187-james-harrigan-what-s-wrong-with-utopias/ 

12. Rachel Lomasky’s episode “Can A.I. Be Ethical?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-168-rachel-lomasky-can-ai-be-ethical/ 

13. Thomas Bunting’s episode “What Can Baseball Teach Us About Politics?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-168-rachel-lomasky-can-ai-be-ethical/ 

14. Janet Bufton and Sarah Skwire’s episode “Why Tweet the Wealth of Nations” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-98-janet-bufton-and-sarah-skwire-%e2%80%94-why-tweet-the-wealth-of-nations/ 

15. Nimish Adhia’s episode “Did Bollywood Liberalize India?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-52-nimish-adhia-%e2%80%94-did-bollywood-liberalize-india/ 

16. Chris Freiman’s episode “Is It Okay to Ignore Politics?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-31-christopher-freiman-%e2%80%94-is-it-okay-to-ignore-politics/ 

17. Jessica Flannigan’s episode “Should We Legalize All Drugs?” of The Curious Task Podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-9-jessica-flanigan-%e2%80%94-should-we-legalize-all-drugs/ 

18. Mike Munger’s episode “Is Price Gouging Wrong?” of The Curious Task 

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-39-mike-munger-%e2%80%94-is-price-gouging-wrong/

19. Dan Shahar’s episode “Is It Okay to Eat Meat?” of The Curious Task podcast

Link: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-125-dan-shahar-is-it-okay-to-eat-meat/

Alex speaks with Nathan Goodman about the implications of Climate Change for immigration policy and how coercion and polycentricity factor into that conversation.

References: 

- Adapting to Climate Change through Migration: Justus Enninga and Nathan Goodman https://www.thecgo.org/research/adapting-to-climate-change-through-migration/ 

- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Summary for Policy Makers https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/summary-for-policymakers/#:~:text=Climate%20change%2C%20through%20hazards%2C%20exposure,adapt%20and%20mitigate%20within%20limits 

- Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems: Elinor Ostrom https://www.jstor.org/stable/27871226 

- The case for open immigration Chandran Kukathas https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/237298126.pdf 

 

 

In August of 2022, Alex spoke with Paige MacPherson about school choice - and the lack thereof - in each of Canada's provinces.

References

1. Paige’s articles, The Fraser Institute

Link: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/paige-macpherson 

2. Paige’s Blog

Link: https://www.paigetmacpherson.com/blog 

3. “Public, private, and charter schools: How they compare” by Understood

Link: https://www.understood.org/en/articles/public-private-and-charter-schools-how-they-compare 

4. “Explore: The Canadian education system by province and territory” by Future Learn

Link: https://www.futurelearn.com/info/futurelearn-international/canada-public-education-by-province

Alex Aragona speaks with Peter Jaworski as he explores his definition of libertarianism, and how different kinds of morality can lead to certain conclusions about libertarian institutions.

References

• Peter Jaworski is the co-author of the book, Markets without Limits: Moral Virtues and Commercial Interests, which is available for purchase on Amazon Canada at this link.
• Peter mentions B. van der Vossen’s article on self-ownership published on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, which can be read here. The general article on libertarianism starts at this link.
• You can read more about Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory on the website, moralfoundations.org.
• Peter mentions the three-way division between people cited in Jason Brennan’s book, Against Democracy, which is also available on Amazon Canada at this link. 
• This article on libertarianism.org captures David Hume’s is-ought dichotomy that was briefly mentioned by Peter during the podcast. 
• The Acton Institute publishes many articles that demonstrate how their theological views endorse libertarian institutions on their website, acton.org.
• You can read John Stuart Mill’s libertarian conclusions in On Liberty at this link.
• Peter mentions Chris Freiman during the episode, who has published blogposts on learnliberty.org.   
• You can read more about the natural rights argument of Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in this article on libertarianism.org. 
• The Lockean-Nozick justification of property rights has also been written about in this article on libertarianism.org.
  
• Here is the link to Ayn Rand’s book, The Virtue of Selfishness, that explores the concept of ethical egoism.
• Michael L. Frazer has a book on Adam Smith’s theory of sentimentalism and how it departs from that of David Hume, which can be accessed here.
• You can purchase Michael Huemer’s book, Ethical Institutionalism, that was recommended by Peter at this link.
• Jan Narveson makes a contractarian case for libertarianism in this article on libertarianism.org.
• Here is Roderick Long’s article, Eudaimonist Libertarianism, that was published on bleedingheartlibertarians.org.
• Dan Sanchez published an article called, In Defense of Mises’s Utilitarianism, through the Mises Institute and is available for reading here.
• Here is Kevin Vallier’s article, A Rawlisan Case for Libertarianism, which also draws parallels to F. A. Hayek. 
• You can explore Milton Friedman’s natural rights-oriented political philosophy in his book, Capitalism and Freedom, which can be purchased from Amazon Canada at this link.
• Here is a joint article by John Tomasi and Matt Zwolinski called, A Bleeding Heart History of Libertarianism, which was published in Cato Unbound and can be read at this link. 
• This is a link to the Libertarian Party of the United States.
• Deirdre McCloskey elaborated on her idea of The Great Enrichment in this article published on the Foundation for Economic Education.

Alex speaks with Tony Gill about the curious practice of tipping and why despite all our groaning, it may just be a habit worth defending.

Further Reading (some more of Tony Gill's writings on the subject):

https://www.polisci.washington.edu/news/2019/03/18/tony-gill-tipping

http://journal.apee.org/index.php/2018_Journal_of_Private_Enterprise_Vol_33_No_1_Spring_parte6 

https://www.aier.org/article/in-defense-of-tipping-part-ii-price-discrimination/ 

https://www.econtalk.org/anthony-gill-on-tipping/ 

Alex speaks with Kevin Vallier about his new book "All The Kingdoms Of The World", in which he takes a global view of anti-liberal integralist strands in political thought and warns of the consequences of following them toward a rejection of liberal freedom and democracy. 

Episode Notes:

• The conversation focuses primarily on Kevin’s book:
  • https://www.kevinvallier.com/books/all-the-kingdoms-of-the-world-radical-religious-alternatives-liberalism/ 
• Introduction to Catholic Political Integralism: 
  • https://thejosias.com/ 
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integralism 
• Introduction to islamic political anti-liberalism 
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamism 
• “The Confucian Tradition and Politics” Youngmin Kim, Ha-Kyoung Lee and Seongun Park https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.991