One’s behavior sends signals about oneself. From ancient times, luxury has been used as a signal. Drawing on Adam Smith, ...

This essay explores Mill’s discussion of possible tensions between liberty and harm to others, especially in the context of ...

Juneteenth is rightly remembered as a celebration of freedom. But Douglass’s life and thought point us toward a deeper meaning: freedom is the opportunity to become self- directed, self- reliant, and ...

This essay explores chapters three and four of John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, which discusses the value of human individuality and the threats it faces from the social dominance of custom and ...

A central figure in Western philosophy, Plato was founder of the Academy in Athens, student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. Then, I said, let us begin and create in idea a State; and yet the ...

Prosperity and property rights are inextricably linked. The importance of having well-defined and strongly protected property rights is now widely recognized among economists and policymakers. A ...

Anarchism is a theory of society without the state in which the market provides all public goods and services, such as law and order. Although most anarchists oppose all large institutions, public or ...

Crypto- anarchism is a philosophy whose advocates think technology can assist them in creating communities based on consent rather than coercion. Crypto- anarchists wish to be free from state ...

While Karl Marx hated Pierre- Joseph Proudhon and his philosophy of mutualism, a libertarian can find in it much to appreciate. Although Herbert Spencer has been rightly regarded as the most ...

Smith explains the significance, for Locke, of the increased productivity caused by labor, and the relationship between money and property. George H. Smith was formerly Senior Research Fellow for the ...

George H. Smith was formerly Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for Humane Studies, a lecturer on American History for Cato Summer Seminars, and Executive Editor of Knowledge Products. Smith’s ...