I have yet to confirm this independently, but I was told today by a very reliable source that Chandran Kukathas will be assuming a chaired professorship at the Londson School of Economics. In my opinion, Chandran is the most sophisticated voice for cosmopolitan liberalism in the field of political philosophy today.
Robert Nozick was the great libertarian political philosopher of my youth, but Chandran, David Schmidtz, and Loren Lomasky hold that title today. Chandran's move to the LSE is a great accomplishment for him, and a great opportunity for the ideas he has devoted his life to advancing.
Congratulations to Chandran and the LSE.
Congratulations to Chandran. It could not happen to a nicer guy!
A very positive review of his book on Hayek.
http://www.the-rathouse.com/rev_hayekmodlib.html
Posted by: Rafe | April 17, 2007 at 08:51 PM
Bonjour,
Encore une fois la doctrine de la liberté illimitée , la société multiculturelle sans passé , ni repère montre sa barbarie.
Pour une fois ,laissons la parole à Ted Stanger , le corbeau qui croasse en américain:
"Aux USA nous avons des foires aux armes , en France vous avez des foires aux livres !".
Messieurs , les Yanks , gardez votre modèle barbare , nous n'en voulons pas pour nous !
Posted by: libert--rien | April 18, 2007 at 04:40 AM
No...you don't. You just have more unemployment caused by your own statist beliefs. Which leads to resentment amongst the young and aliens in your presence. So while Paris burns, I'll take the chance that freedom gives me.
Posted by: Matt C. | April 18, 2007 at 09:02 AM
Chandran gave a talk at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, based on the chapter in The Road to Serfdom about why the worst get to the top. Of course he was talking about socialism, not GMU:)
For a rejoinder to our French colleague: http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/article.asp?aid=3237
Posted by: Rafe Champion | April 18, 2007 at 09:10 AM
Bonjour ,
Les USA nation fondée sur LE GENOCIDE de 30 millions d'Indiens et sur leur SPOLIATION devraient avoir un peu de pudeur lorsqu'ils font l'apologie du droit de propriété !
Ces faux derches racistes d'Etat négrophobes font désormais l'apologie du multiculturalisme.
Qu'ils gardent leur nouvelle lubie HYPOCRITE pour eux.
Nous voulons rester Français !
Dehors les USA impérialistes totalitaires et meurtriers [Vietnam ,Yougoslavie , Irak]….
Posted by: libert--rien | April 18, 2007 at 11:51 AM
Let's not confuse what I said as oking what happened in the past nor in the present. Also, the French were in Vietnam before the Americans, so your talk of imperialism seems to be more hypocritical than anything I have said. I would hardly call the vast American was a vast array of spoilation either.
Of course if we want to talk about the past, I believe it was the French who ran the streets red with blood all in the name of egalitarianism. I don't remember that happening after the American Revolution.
Your complaint about the Indians is a perfect example of the governments complete disregard property rights and the natural rights of all humans.
Your own hypocrisy is apparent. So why this blog? Why choose to state that on an Austrian Economics blog they are totalitarian? If anything thing it is about the abolition of government, rather than what you seem to be proposing.
Posted by: Matt C. | April 18, 2007 at 03:10 PM
Check out how the lovers of liberty, fraternity and equality treated the folk in the Vendee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_in_the_Vend%C3%A9e
"When the campaign dragged to an end in March 1796 the estimated dead numbered between 40,000 and 250,000, out of a population of around 800,000."
Posted by: Rafe Champion | April 18, 2007 at 05:18 PM
Does anyone find it ironic that Chandran Kukathas teaches at the University of Utah? Its econ department could not be any more ideologicaly opposed to him if they tried. Does anyone know his feelings about this?
Posted by: trichards | April 18, 2007 at 09:46 PM
Well Hayek was not wanted in the economics faculty at Chicago although that was methodology more than ideology. Chandran and other classical liberals know the score in most of the humanities and social sciences. Check out Sociology at Utah! Dermatology looks ok though.
Posted by: Rafe Champion | April 19, 2007 at 07:17 AM
I studied at KCL, the other side of Aldwych, and had a lot of lectures over at the LSE (mainly phil science). Fantastic place. A young lecturer I had at KCL who is now a professor elsewhere explained to me once that, while Oxbridge is stuffed with the frighteningly clever (he studied at Ox and Cam himself), the intellectual atmosphere at KCL was way more vibrant, in his opinion, and that he spent several years at Ox and Cam "waiting for it to happen" (it never did). That's very much the sense I got of LSE too - really vibrant. I can imagine that the econ department at GMU must be similar.
Posted by: ChrisB | April 19, 2007 at 09:44 AM
@Mat C.
Bonjour ,
1)Vous qui me donnez des leçons sur la propriété:
Où sont vos droits de propriété sur la terre que vous occupez ?
Ce sont en fait le vol et le meurtre qui ont fait de vos ancêtres des """propriétaires""".
2)J'ai déjà entendu , il y a peu , un "Austrian Economist" de chez nous s'horrifier comme vous de la Vendée [130 000 morts au plus] , ce tartuffe qui faisait l'apologie de la douce Révolution US "omettait" de signaler le génocide concomitant de 30 millions d'Indien.
Le tartuffe oubliait aussi de signaler la guerre de Sécession [1861-1865] [1.5 millions de morts ?] , guerre faite par des PROTECTIONNISTES Yanks et gagnée par eux , habilement maquillée par les Yanks en guerre anti-esclavagiste.
3)Les USA sont un Etat sans passé , ni histoire , un Etat barbare constamment qui se paye le luxe de donner des leçons de morale au Monde entier.
Je crois que cette époque est finie:le reste du Monde a compris et n'est plus disposé à entendre Bush chanter "combien nous sommes bons".
OTAN Go Home !
Yankee Go Home !
Posted by: libert--rien | April 19, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Your complete lack of understanding of the history of the Americas is quite apparent. For you seem to place the blame of the deaths of millions of Indians on the backs of the Americans. It was in fact Europeans who first came to the Americas, the damage was done by Europeans, specifically the Spanish. It can hardly be called a genocide or holocaust. Those millions were killed in by spread of disease that Europeans brought with them. It is not as if the Europeans brought with them the diseases to kill the Mesoamericans on purpose, to call it a genocide is an incorrect characterization.
The early settlers of the Americas, specifically those from England, settled in towns that had been abandoned by the Indians that had abandoned due to disease. By the time the US was formed there were not 30 million Indians in the WHOLE of the Americas, the majority had been decimated by disease. This does not in any way justify what the US Government did in forcing them off their property and that use of force was in any way justified.
In answer to your note about the American Civil War you are barking up the wrong tree. My guess is that most of the bloggers of the Austrian Economist, and they can correct me here, would believe that what Lincoln did was incorrect. Lincoln did work to increase protectionism and strengthen central power in DC. The southern states fought for more than just slavery, but also their rights of secession.
Unlike your 3rd, absolutely ridiculous point, the US does have a history. The past is obviously made up of history and it would anthropologist and historians little good to study “nothing.”
I would also like to take leap to say that the bloggers and posters of this site would believe that NATO, UN and any other GOVERNMENT entity is inherently corrupt and bad. I would also venture to say that you will probably find it hard to find many friends of G.W. Bush here.
I apologize to everyone else, this will be my last response.
Posted by: Matt C. | April 19, 2007 at 02:38 PM
to get a flavor of the University of Utah's econ department, and why Chandran might find it a less-than-hospitable place, check out this sampling of fliers for their annual picnic.
http://www.econ.utah.edu/hesa/tshirtfly/tshirtfly.htm
Posted by: Dwight Schrute | April 20, 2007 at 02:40 PM
Bonjour ,
1)On croit mourir de rire en écoutant votre discours.D'abord avec votre balançoire de l'accusation des "spanish".Chose curieuse , il faudra m'expliquer , par exemple , pourquoi un Evo Morales , ex-colonisé de l'Espagne , est en position en 2007 de revendiquer le gouvernement bolivien en s'appuyant sur une majorité d' Indiens quechuas et aymaras alors qu'au Etats Unis après avoir réduit les rares Indiens restant en esclavage on a fini par acheter leur silence par la gérance de casinos.
Vous êtes marrant , ""ce n'est pas nous , ce sont les Européens, Msieur !".
Custer was a spanish ,indeed ?
La réalité c'est que la colonisation anglaise ou US [Pour moi c'est kif-kif ] a toujours été GENOCIDAIRE contrairement à la colonisation française ou espagnole.
De toutes les manières TOUS vos droits de Propriété actuels ne sont pas FONDES que vous les teniez de fantomatiques européens ou de leurs descendants de ""vrais"" américains/
Embêtant non pour un "Austrian Economist" ?
2)Oui , vous me confirmez que cette histoire d'antiesclavagisme est une tartuferie habituelle aux Yanks.
3)D'accord vous avez une histoire.Mais où la faites-vous débuter dans votre volonté de rejeter sur de fantomatiques "européens" le génocide et la SPOLIATION des Indiens ??
Custer il est dans votre Histoire ou pas ?
Posted by: libert--rien | April 21, 2007 at 07:54 AM
Quick admonition to Rafe: you really help the cause of liberty by posting a link to that cretinous article by Larry Reed and sneering at Utah's economics dept. ICAPE is having a conference there. Sneering cuts against the ICAPE grain of pluralism. Prof. Boettke approves of ICAPE I'm sure.
Posted by: anon | April 21, 2007 at 01:56 PM
Cher Français,
Tout d'abord, contrairement à ce qui a été exprimé, je trouve ça intéressant que quelqu'un ouvertement opposé aux idées ici échangées puisse nous faire part de son désaccord. Cependant, l'opposition que vous souhaitez marquer entre l'univers européen et l'univers américains me semble un peu... déplacée? Concernant votre position sur l'histoire américaine, je peux tout simplement dire: si un pays n'a pas d'histoire au sens où nous en avons une, alors, alors quoi? Notre histoire européenne a été faite par nos pères, nos oncles, nos cousins, etc., des générations précédentes. On n'est tout simplement pas obligé d'aimer sa famille! Au niveau diplomatique, la France se positionne le plus souvent comme intermédiaire de dialogue et de compromis pour tenter de régler des tensions. Que dirais-tu si un américain te disait que la france, au regard de son histoire, n'a aucune légitimité à défendre la paix. L'histoire de TOUTES les civilisations est une histoire de la violence: Athenes, Rome, Sparte, Egypte, et évidemment nous memes. De plus, dès qu'un individu s'implante sur un territoire et devient sédentaire, tout le monde peut dire qu'il y a violation des droits de propriété. Ceux de qui? Je veux dire par là que cette notion de "droit de propriété" est trés occidentale, une institution légale qui repose sur d'autres institutions légales (législatives et exécutives). C'est tout autre chose de dire que les Indiens chassaient sur un territoire pendant des siècles et ont vu progressivement arrivé des "étrangers". Dire : c'était leur territoire est aussi juste que de dire "je prend mon bus". Les algériens, ayant une structure suffisamment développée, pouvaient quant à eux dire légitimement que la France a violé son droit à sa libre détermination. Ce n'est pas parce que la France a eu ce comportement que je le trouve légitime: De Gaulle est détestable, meme si beacoup pensent qu'il a sauvé la france. L'equivalence américaine est évidente et n'a rien de révoltant: oui, j'ai une pièce d'identité francaise, je vais voter tout à l'heure et cependant je trouve que c'est un pays de cons. Bah oui. Je pense que les autrichiens peuvent parfaitement défendre la centralité des droits de propriété, meme si les hommes qui les ont précédés sur le territoire où ils vivent aujourd'hui (il y avait des indiens à Fairfax ??? Je sais pas) ne les ont pas respectés. Je suis contre l'inceste et le viol, mais il y a fort a parier que ces choses se pratiquent encore en France... Je suis pret à échanger avec toi Liberta...rien, mais à une seule condition: reste calme :)
Posted by: dandy | April 22, 2007 at 03:54 AM
I just googled Chandran's name to see if it had been officially announced that he was leaving the University of Utah and heading to London. Chandran is an amazing professor - I took 2 courses from him at the University of Utah and was forever changed by my association with him. I was lucky to develop a friendship with him and was so saddened to hear of his departure. This is truly the U's loss and The London School of Economics' gain. I wish him the very best!
Posted by: Sarah Green | May 01, 2007 at 07:44 PM
Chandran teaches in the political science department with a courtesy appointment in philosophy. The econ department is in a different college altogether. As a former student and a leftist, I can testify that Chandran is tolerant and respectful of other voices I do not think that he would mind the econ dept (all rather friendly bunch). After all, he is quite clear that he is a philosopher and not an ideologue.
Posted by: Chris H. | May 02, 2007 at 10:34 PM
All greetings!
;)
Posted by: Marcianna | July 15, 2007 at 06:24 PM