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Economics and the Pursuit of Happiness

5 Parts, 15 Lessons, 51 Videos   3H 30M
Parts
  • Introduction
  • Political Economy and Public Choice
    • Lesson 1: Political Implications of Economic Systems
    • Lesson 2: The Public Choice Perspective
    • Lesson 3: Bureaucracy and the Commercial Order
  • Moral Dimensions of Property and Trade
    • Lesson 4: Justice in Exchange
    • Lesson 5: Social Aspects of Justice and Commerce
    • Lesson 6: Property, Production, and Distribution
  • The Contest of Ideas: Keynes and Hayek
    • Lesson 7: John Maynard Keynes: Radical Conservative
    • Lesson 8: Hayek: Conserving Freedom
    • Lesson 9: Keynesianism and the Limits of Economics
  • The Contest of Ideas: Free to Choose?
    • Lesson 10: Freedom of Choice
    • Lesson 11: Hayek: Libertarian Paternalism
    • Lesson 12: On the Nature of Liberty
  • The Moral Dimensions of the Market Economy
    • Lesson 13: Moral Norms
    • Lesson 14: Justifying Income, Wealth, and Capitalism
    • Lesson 15: Market Freedom, Efficiency, and Tradition

Lesson 12 Lesson 12: On the Nature of Liberty

Presented by: Dr. Jay Richards
Busch School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America

Playlist

  1. Lesson 12, Video 1 - Dr. Jay Richards
  2. Lesson 12, Video 2 - Dr. Jay Richards
  3. Lesson 12, Video 3 - Dr. Jay Richards

Liberty and Law

In this lesson, the foundations and limits of liberty are considered. In the middle of the nineteenth century, John Stuart Mill defined liberty as having a negative and positive component. Pope Leo XIII would qualify that view and argue that while Mill placed the limit of liberty at the point where actions do harm to others, in reality liberty exceeds its limits when it is severed from virtue and truth. Students will consider the extent to which Mill departs from classical philosophy and natural law in fashioning a new philosophy of liberalism.

Key Concepts: (1) Personal Autonomy, (2) Harm, (3) Negative Liberty, (4) Positive Liberty (5) Natural Liberty

Lesson 12 Quick Quiz

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EPH Lesson 12: On the Nature of Liberty

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“The maxims are, first, that the individual is not accountable to society for his actions, in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself. … Secondly, that for such actions as are prejudicial to the interests of others, the individual is accountable, and may be subjected either to social or to legal punishment.”

John Stuart Mill

“A further question is, whether the State, while it permits, should nevertheless indirectly discourage conduct which it deems contrary to the best interests of the agent; whether, for example, it should take measures to render the means of drunkenness more costly, or add to the difficulty of procuring them by limiting the number of the places of sale. On this as on most other practical questions, many distinctions require to be made.”

John Stuart Mill

“It is clear then that a state is not a mere society, having a common place, established for the prevention of crime and for the sake of exchange. These are conditions without which a state cannot exist; but all of them together do not constitute a state, which is a community of well-being in families and aggregations of families.”

Aristotle

“Therefore, the nature of human liberty, however it be considered, whether in individuals or in society, whether in those who command or in those who obey, supposes the necessity of obedience to some supreme and eternal law, which is no other than the authority of God, commanding good and forbidding evil.”

Pope Leo XIII

Learn More

h Link

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, chapter five, “Applications,” (New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1974, 1985), pp. 163-187.

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h PDF

Leo XIII, Libertas, pp. 1-14.

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h Video

“The Harm Principle: How To Live Your Life the Way You Want To” narrated by Harry Shearer

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h Video

“Christianity and Freedom with Kenneth Elzinga”

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h Video

“Liberty 101: What Does Liberty Really Mean?” with Christopher Koopman, Peter Jaworski, Diana Thomas & Learn Liberty

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h Link

Richard M. Reinsch, II, “Liberalism, Properly Understood”

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Economics and the Pursuit of Happiness

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