When Worlds Collude: Hoppe, Bruenig, and their shared vision of the libertarian future (I)

When Worlds Collude: Hoppe, Bruenig, and their shared vision of the libertarian future (I) - George J. Dance, Nolan Chart:

June 9, 2017 - "Progressive lawyer, online pundit, and internet troll Matt Bruenig has a question for libertarians: 'My first question for Cato and libertarians more generally is this: What is up with Hans-Hermann Hoppe?'

"I wish I could respond, 'Who?' Alas, I am well aware of Hoppe. Many libertarians and other readers, though, may have just that response. Fortunately, Bruenig has provided an introduction:

For the unacquainted, Hoppe is a very prominent libertarian academic, certainly well known within intellectual libertarian circles. He ironically works at the University of Nevada as an economics professor, making him a public employee. He publishes frequently in libertarian academic journals, is a Distinguished Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, founded the Property & Freedom Society, is frequently referenced by other libertarians as one of them, and [authored a] 2001 book Democracy: The God That Failed. It is a tad on the long side, but it’s really good, the [following] quotes especially.”

"We will look at Bruenig’s quotes later. For now it is enough to say that, while Hoppe and some of his admirers self-identify as libertarians, many if not most libertarians who know of him want nothing to do with him.

"Here is an assessment of Hoppe that I suspect many libertarians who have read him or his admirers would accept:

The errors of Hans-Hermann Hoppe are regrettable for two reasons: Firstly, Hoppe is a highly intelligent and well-educated economist who – for whatever reasons – fails to notice when he does damage to the values of freedom and property, which he claims to support. This is the tragic personal side of Hans-Hermann Hoppe. But it is also tragic for academic discussions: At a time when we are surrounded by ever growing welfare states we badly need thinkers like Hoppe to show us how to tackle today’s problems. But instead of doing that, Hoppe prefers to take refuge in his pipe dreams of a so-called ‘natural order’, which rather resembles the abyss of a variation of right-wing totalitarianism. For all these reasons, for all his errors and mistakes and for his wrong-headed methodology we may expect Hoppe’s ideas to remain a footnote in the history of political thought. And it may well be better this way. An effective strategy of liberation would look very different. If Hoppe continues to use the terms ‘liberalism’ and ‘freedom’ for his authoritarian and pseudo-liberal agenda, it is time for the true liberals to claim back these terms from him.

"It is only necessary to add that (1) the very idea of libertarianism that Bruenig claims libertarians should be following (2) is not only compatible with, but looks like it would result in, Hoppe’s theorized future libertarian society; furthermore, while (3) Hoppe’s account of that society suffers from serious flaws and errors, (4) Bruenig’s account of that future society, being based on his reading of Hoppe, has the same flaws and errors. Making those four points is easy enough, but demonstrating them requires a bit more work."

Read more: https://www.nolanchart.com/when-world-collude-hoppe-bruenig-and-their-shared-vision-of-the-libertarian-future-i
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