Note to self: “Men are much more likely to discover easier and readier methods of attaining any object, when the whole attention of their minds is directed towards that single object, than when it is dissipated among a great variety of things. But in consequence of the division of labour, the whole of everyman’s attention […]
Multi-tasking is multi-stupid, Adam Smith version: Read More »
Below is a transcription of the video available YouTube and StephenHicks.org. Philosophy and a Century of War (transcription) Stephen R. C. Hicks Philosophy has a reputation for being abstract and difficult, which it certainly can be. It also has a reputation for being impractical, which it definitely is not. So today I want to give
“Philosophy and a Century of War” — transcript Read More »
Illinois State University professor Terry Noel’s 24-minute video lecture on “Management and Entrepreneurship.” Dr. Noel discusses the elements of management — planning, organizing, leading, controlling — including examples from Moses, Chinese warfare, Adam Smith, Eli Whitney, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, Frederick Taylor, Michael Taylor and Jay Barney — and management’s connection to entrepreneurship, with discussion
Terry Noel on management and entrepreneurship Read More »
I came across this short piece on some connections between Adam Smith, David Hume, and the American founders. Hume writing to Benjamin Franklin in 1762: “I am sure America has sent us many good things; gold, silver, sugar, tobacco, indigo, etc., but you are the first philosopher, and indeed the first great man of letters
Scottish Enlightenment and Franklin and Jefferson Read More »
What makes liberal capitalism good? Here is a flowchart I’ve developed for use in some upcoming talks. The chart diagrams the positive claims about liberal capitalism by its defenders — John Locke, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and others. Click on the image for full size
Justifying liberal capitalism Read More »
Professor Kline visited Rockford College on Tuesday to give a talk on four major thinkers — Hobbes, Locke, Hume, and Smith — who in large part established the intellectual framework for our modern business world. Kline is a professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois, Springfield. Here is my seven-minute follow-up interview with Kline
Philosophy of Business: William Kline interview Read More »
One of my talks at Francisco Marroquín University was on making sense of our mixed economy–an unwieldy combination of market and socialist elements. The 28-minute talk integrates themes from my intellectual heroes–Smith, Mill, Mises, Hayek, Rand, Popper, Friedman, Buchanan, and Tullock–and connects market economics, politics, ethics, history, and public choice to explaining our semi-coherent mixed
Seminar: Philosophy and the Evolution of the Mixed Economy Read More »
Douglas Den Uyl spoke at Rockford College on four competing (and/or compatible?) theories of the nature of capitalism: Milton Friedman’s “Utility” account, Friedrich Hayek’s “Epistemic” account, Adam Smith’s “Aesthetic” account, and Ayn Rand’s “Self-Fulfillment” account. Here is my sixteen-minute interview with Dr. Den Uyl following his lecture: Part 1: Part 2: Cross-posted at the CEE
Interview with Douglas Den Uyl on “The Essence of Capitalism” Read More »