KOL153 | “The Social Theory of Hoppe: Lecture 1: Property Foundations” (Mises Academy, 2011)

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Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 153.

This is the first of 6 lectures of my 2011 Mises Academy course “The Social Theory of Hoppe.” I’ll release the remaining lectures here in the podcast feed in upcoming days.

The slides for the first lecture of the Social Theory of Hoppe course are provided below, as are the “suggested readings” for the course.

As general background I suggest:

• Kinsella, “Foreword,” in Hans-Hermann Hoppe, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (Laissez Faire Books ebook edition, 2013)
• Kinsella, “Afterword,” in Hans-Hermann Hoppe, The Great Fiction: Property, Economy, Society, and the Politics of Decline (Laissez Faire Books, 2012)
• “Introduction,” with Jörg Guido Hülsmann, in Hülsmann & Kinsella, eds., Property, Freedom, and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Mises Institute, 2009) (published as “Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe,” Mises Daily, Aug. 7, 2009)

LECTURE 1: PROPERTY FOUNDATIONS

For slides for all six lectures, plus extensive hyperlinked suggested reading material, see this Libertarian Standard post.

SUGGESTED READING MATERIAL

The “suggested readings” for each lecture are appended below. Links, where available, are provided; most of these materials can also be found on stephankinsella.com/publications, c4sif.org/resources, mises.org, hanshoppe.com/publications, or on Wikipedia or by google search.

LECTURE 1: PROPERTY FOUNDATIONS

• Chapters 1 & 2, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism [TSC]

LECTURE 2: TYPES OF SOCIALISM AND THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE

• TSC Chs. 3-6
• De-Socialization in a United Germany
• “Banking, Nation States and International Politics: A Sociological Reconstruction of the Present Economic Order” (ch. 3 of The Economics and Ethics of Private Property [EEPP])

LECTURE 3: LIBERTARIAN RIGHTS AND ARGUMENTATION ETHICS

SUGGESTED READINGS

• Kinsella, “Argumentation Ethics and Liberty: A Concise Guide”
• Hoppe: EEPP, chapter 11, “From the Economics of Laissez Faire to the Ethics of Libertarianism,” ch. 12. “The Justice of Economic Efficiency,” and “Appendix: Four Critical Replies”

OPTIONAL READINGS

• Kinsella, “New Rationalist Directions in Libertarian Rights Theory”
• “On the Ultimate Justification of the Ethics of Private Property,” by Hoppe
• “Beyond Is and Ought,” by Murray N. Rothard
• “Hoppephobia,” by Rothbard
• “Defending Argumentation Ethics: Reply to Murphy & Callahan,” by Stephan Kinsella
• “Argumentation Ethics and The Philosophy of Freedom,” by Frank Van Dun
• “Hülsmann on Argumentation Ethics,” by Kinsella

LECTURE 4: EPISTEMOLOGY, METHODOLOGY AND DUALISM; KNOWLEDGE, CERTAINTY, LOGICAL POSITIVISM

Suggested Readings

• TSC, Pages 118-144 and 152-155
• Economic Science and the Austrian Method
• Is Research Based on Causal Scientific Principles Possible in the Social Sciences? (ch. 10 of EEPP)
• In Defense of Extreme Rationalism: Thoughts on Donald McCloskey’s The Rhetoric of Economics [ch. 16 of The Great Fiction]

Optional Readings

• Chapter 9. “On Praxeology and the Praxeological Foundation of Epistemology”; ch. 14. “Austrian Rationalism in the Age of the Decline of Positivism” (from EEPP)
• On Certainty and Uncertainty, Or: How Rational Can Our Expectations Be? [ch. 14, The Great Fiction]
• The Science of Human Action (lecture)

LECTURE 5: ECONOMIC ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS

Suggested Readings

• Hoppe on Property Rights in Physical Integrity vs Value
• Hoppe on Liberal Economies and War
• Hoppe: Marx was “Essentially Correct”
• Capitalist Production and The Problem of Monopoly (from TSC)
• Fallacies of the Public Goods Theory & the Production of Security
• Verstehen and the Role of Economics in Forecasting, or: If You’re so Rich, Why Aren’t You Smart?
• “Chicago Diversions” in “The Ethics and Economics of Private Property“
• Kinsella, “Knowledge vs. Calculation”

Optional Readings

• The Misesian Case against Keynes
• The Limits of Numerical Probability: Frank H. Knight and Ludwig von Mises and the Frequency of Interpretation
• A Note on Preference and Indifference in Economic Analysis
• Socialism: A Property or Knowledge Problem?

LECTURE 6: POLITICAL ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS; HOPPE Q&A

n/a

***

Background:

This is one of the five Mises Academy courses I presented in 2011. The others were:

• “Rethinking Intellectual Property“;
• “Libertarian Legal Theory”;
• “Libertarian Controversies”; and
• “Obama’s Patent Reform: Improvement or Continuing Calamity?”¹

The Hoppe course is discussed in my article “Read Hoppe, Then Nothing Is the Same“; see also Danny Sanchez’s post Online Hoppe Course Starts Tomorrow.

I enjoyed teaching all the courses, but my favorite was the Hoppe course. Hoppe has been the biggest intellectual influence of my life, as I detail in “How I Became A Libertarian” (published as “Being a Libertarian” in I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians). I agree with Sanchez that “Hans-Hermann Hoppe is the most profound social theorist writing today.” This is one reason I worked with the brilliant Austro-libertarian theorist, Jörg Guido Hülsmann, to produce the festschrift Property, Freedom, and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Mises Institute, 2009).

The experience of teaching the Mises Academy classes was amazing and gratifying, as I noted in my article “Teaching an Online Mises Academy Course.” This and similar technology and Internet-enabled models are obviously the wave of the educational future. The students received an in-depth, specialized and personalized treatment of topics of interest to them, with tests and teacher and fellow student interaction, for a very reasonable price, and judging by their comments and evaluations, they were very satisfied with the courses and this online model. For example, for the Hoppe course, as noted in A Happy Hoppean Student, student Cam Rea wrote, about the first lecture of the course:

Move over Chuck Norris, Hans-Hermann Hoppe is in town! The introduction to “The Social Theory of Hoppe” was extremely thorough. I, a relative newcomer to the Hoppean idea, was impressed by Stephan Kinsella’s introduction to the theory. Mr. Kinsella hit upon all of those who came before Hoppe, and how each built upon another over the past two centuries. In other words, as Isaac Newton stated, “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Hoppe is the result thus far of those who came before him in the ideals of Austrian Economics and libertarian principles. Nevertheless, Hoppe takes it much further as in the Misesian concept of human action and the science of “praxeology”, from which all actions branch in life.

Overall, the class was extremely enjoyable, the questions concrete, and the answer provided by Mr. Kinsella clear and precise. Like many others in the class, I look forward to more. So tune in next Monday at 7pm EDT. Same Hoppe-time, same Hoppe-channel!

“The class (everything) was perfect. Content wasn’t too deep (nor too shallow) – the reviewed material was just brilliant and the “tuning” was great for someone like myself (engineering background – no profound legal/lawyer experience). It provided all the material to really “understand” (instead of “just knowing”) all that was covered which I find always very important in a class.”

“Instruction was very comprehensive and thought provoking. The instructor was fantastic and very knowledgeable and answered every question asked.”

“Learned more than i expected, the professor seemed to really enjoy teaching the class, and the readings provided were excellent. Overall for the cost I was extremely satisfied.”

“Very interesting ideas I was not exposed to. Inexpensive, convenient, good quality.”

“It is a very fascinating topic and I was quite eager to learn about what I.P. is all about. I thought that Professor Kinsella was able to convey complicated issues to us clearly.”

“Professor Kinsella’s enthusiasm and extra links posted showed his true knowledge and interest in the subject. Great to see.”

And:

Thank you so very much for all the excellent work — very few classes have really changed my life dramatically, actually only 3 have, and all 3 were classes I took at the Mises Academy, starting with Rethinking Intellectual Property (PP350) (the other two were EH476 (Bubbles), and PP900 (Private Defense)). …

My purposes for taking the classes are: 1. just for the fun of it, 2. learning & self-education, and 3. to understand what is happening with some degree of clarity so I can eventually start being part of the solution where I live — or at least stop being part of the problem.

The IP class was a total blast — finally (finally) sound reasoning. All the (three) classes I took dramatically changed the way I see the world. I’m still digesting it all, to tell the truth. Very few events in my life have managed to make me feel like I wished I was 15 all over again. Thank you. …

[M]uch respect and admiration for all the great work done by all the members of the whole team.

Students would often give real-time feedback, in comments such as the following at the end of the lectures (these are from the actual IP-lecture chat transcripts):

• “Thank you, great lecture!”
• “Thanks, excellent lecture.”
• “Great job.”
• “Great lecture!”
• “Thank you, Sir. Great lecture!”
• “Thanks for an excellent talk.”

Student reaction to the first lecture of my Libertarian Legal Theory course can be found in Student Comments for First Lecture of Libertarian Legal Theory Course: Not Too Late to Sign Up!:

“The class (everything) was perfect. Content wasn’t too deep (nor too shallow) – the reviewed material was just brilliant and the “tuning” was great for someone like myself (engineering background – no profound legal/lawyer experience). It provided all the material to really “understand” (instead of “just knowing”) all that was covered which I find always very important in a class.”

“Instruction was very comprehensive and thought provoking. The instructor was fantastic and very knowledgeable and answered every question asked.”

“Learned more then i expected, the professor seemed to really enjoy teaching the class, and the readings provided were excellent. Overall for the cost I was extremely satisfied.”

“Very interesting ideas I was not exposed to. Inexpensive, convenient, good quality.”

“It is a very fascinating topic and I was quite eager to learn about what I.P. is all about. I thought that Professor Kinsella was able to convey complicated issues to us clearly.”

“Professor Kinsella’s enthusiasm and extra links posted showed his true knowledge and interest in the subject. Great to see.”

Now, that is very gratifying to a teacher. It’s immediate feedback. And it’s a good example of what I mentioned in “Teaching an Online Mises Academy Course”:

These heartfelt and spontaneous comments reminded me a bit of times past, when students would applaud at the end of a good lecture by a professor. In this sense, and contrary to what you might expect with the coarsening of manners and the increase of informality in typical Internet fora, for some reason the new, high-tech environment created by Mises Academy seems to foster a return to Old World manners and civility — which is very Misesian indeed! Perhaps it is because these students are all 100 percent voluntary, and they want to learn. They are much like students decades ago, who were grateful to get into college — before state subsidies of education and the entitlement mentality set in, turning universities into playgrounds for spoiled children who often skip the classes, paid for 10 percent by parents and 90 percent by the taxpayer.

Update: The videos of all six lectures are now available here; the video for this particular lecture is embedded below.

1. Discussed in my article “Obama’s Patent Reform: Improvement or Continuing Calamity?,” Mises Daily, Sep. 23, 2011; I discussed the AIA in further detail in The American Invents Act and Patent Reform: The Good, the Meh, and the Ugly) (audio and slides). [↩]