On Monday morning I’ll be giving a talk entitled “What Makes Capitalism Good: Are Hayek’s, Rand’s, and Friedman’s Answers Compatible?” I’ll also be chairing a session on “Recent Work on Morality and Capitalism” with papers by John Thrasher (University of Arizona), Peter Martin Jaworski (Georgetown University), Douglas B. Rasmussen (St. John’s University), and Jared Meyer (St. John’s University).
Tibor Machan is professor of philosophy at Chapman University in California. He was born in Communist Hungary, smuggled out as a teenager, and came to the United States, where he earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. A prolific writer, he has published over forty books and scores of essays. A recent collection of scholarly essays on Machan’s work, Reality, Reason, and Rights: Essays in Honor of Tibor R. Machan, edited by Douglas B. Rasmussen, Aeon J. Skoble, and Douglas J. Den Uyl, was published in 2011.
Why did you become a philosopher? [00:19]
You grew up in Hungary under communism. What was that like? [08:43]
How did you come to the United States? [00:09]
The practical differences between authoritarian and liberal societies are so striking, so does liberal society need a philosophy? [06:26]
Previous question continued [00:09]
Where did you get your academic degrees? [07:11]
What philosophers have you learned most from? [00:09]
What philosophers do you most disagree with? [07:46]
What is the hardest philosophical problem you are working on now? [00:09]
What is the state of liberal thought today among philosophers? [00:09]
To bring about a more liberal society, what key practical steps can and should be taken? [03:12]
Watch the next Profiles in Liberty with philosopher Douglas Den Uyl.
In this extended interview, philosopher Douglas B. Rasmussen responds to a series of questions (listed below) about his life and work.
Dr. Rasmussen is a professor of philosophy at St. John’s University in New York. In addition to the books discussed in the interview, he is the author of articles in American Philosophical Quarterly, The Review of Metaphysics, International Philosophical Quarterly, and many scholarly anthologies.
Why did you become a philosopher? [00:18]
Where did you go to college? [1:02]
Why does liberal society need a philosophical basis? [1:17 ]
You present those themes in some detail in your books Liberty and Nature, Liberalism Defended, and Norms of Liberty. What is your argument for liberty? [2:44] Previous question continued [00:09]
Which historical philosophers have you learned most from? [6:08]
How do those issues of metaphysics connect to liberalism? [8:15]
Which major historical philosophers do you most disagree with? [11:28] What is the hardest philosophical problem you are working on now? [00:08]
What is the most challenging criticism of your views? [2:43]
What is the state of liberal thought today among philosophers? [4:36]
To bring about a more liberal society, what key practical steps can and should be taken? [6:30]
Check out the program here. 
