Liberty Fund & SFL Symposia

SFL has partnered with the Liberty Fund Inc. to host a new project for students with a passion for developing their intellectual understanding of liberty – The Students For Liberty & Liberty Fund Symposia: Exploring the Foundations of a Free Society.

Founded in 1960 by Indianapolis businessman and lawyer Pierre F. Goodrich, The Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.  Their logo, the Amagi, is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom”.

We will be hosting 3 symposia over the 2011-2012 school year.  These three-day events are built around a Socratic discussion of the topic between fifteen student participants and an academic discussion leader.  Over the past fifty years scores of aspiring intellectuals have attended Liberty Fund events to discuss and debate the ideas of liberty with their brightest peers.

Application to these events is very competitive.  The ideal candidate is eager to contribute to a lively intellectual discussion on the topic at hand.  Each attendee will be required to complete a set of readings leading up to the symposium (readings provided by SFL).  Participation in the entire symposium is mandatory, so do not apply unless you can attend all sessions.

Housing, meals, and materials will be provided by SFL.  Transportation to and from the conference is the responsibility of the participant.

Hayek and Keynes on Human Nature and Liberty
March 9-11 – Irvington-on-Hudson, NY

Description: Friedrich A. Hayek and John Maynard Keynes were two of the most influential figures in twentieth-century economics. Their theories were often in direct conflict with one another, however. At the core of their differences was a relatively simple question: does the market self-correct or should the state intervene in the market to correct imbalances? This question touches at the heart of liberty and the ability of individuals to engage in free exchange without state interference. Keynes contended that greater levels of government intervention were necessary to protect against fluctuations in the business cycle. In contrast, Hayek argued that government intervention in the economy would introduce damaging, and potentially long-lasting, distortions.

• Start Date/Time: Friday, March 9 at 5:00pm Eastern Time
• End Date/Time: Sunday, March 11 at 1:00pm Eastern Time
• Location: Foundation for Economic Education Mansion, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York
• Application Link: Applications are not closed for this event
• Application Deadline: Friday, November 18th

The reading list includes passages from:

• “The Use of Knowledge in Society” by F.A. Hayek
• The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes
• The Life of John Maynard Keynes by Roy Harrod
• Essays in Persuasion by John Maynard Keynes
• The Constitution of Liberty by F.A. Hayek
• Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why it Matters for Global Capitalism by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller
• Keynes and Hayek: The Money Economy by G.R. Steele

The application deadline is Friday, November 11th and decisions will be made on a rolling basis, so submit your application now here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2012-LF-SFL-Hayek-Keynes

Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke on the French Revolution of 1789
March 23-25 – San Diego, CA

Description: The French Revolution presented dramatic challenges to the traditional European political and social order, which, in turn, provoked strong defenses of traditional political and cultural institutions. With discussion led by Professor Matt Zwolinski from the University of San Diego, the purpose of this conference is to consider Thomas Paine’s defenses of the central arguments advanced by the French Revolution regarding the rights of man and political liberty in contrast to the forceful responses by Edmund Burke, which challenged the notion that institutions and cultural accretions of societies could be wiped away by political power, and rebuilt according to rationalist arguments for individual and political liberty. To provide a context for the comparison of Paine’s and Burke’s different responses to the French Revolution, David Hume’s political writings on the origins and development of liberty and government will also be read by participants. Hume’s political essays sharply engage the natural rights arguments that were employed by some French Revolutionaries.

• Start Date/Time: Friday, March 23rd at 5:00pm Pacific Time
• End Date/Time: Sunday, March 25th at 1:00pm Pacific Time
• Location: University of San Diego, San Diego, CA
• Application Link: Applications are now closed for this event
• Application Deadline: Friday, November 18th

The reading list includes passages from:

• Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary by David Human (edited by Eugene F. Miller)
• Collected Writings by Thomas Paine
• Select Works of Edmund Burke, Volume 2: Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
• Select Works of Edmund Burke, Volume 3, Letters on a Regicide Peace by Edmund Burke

The application deadline is Friday, November 11th and decisions will be made on a rolling basis, so submit your application now here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2011-SFL-LF-French-Revolution

Past Liberty Fund & SFL Symposia

“The Institutions of Liberty”
August 5-7, 2011– Arlington, VA

Description: The first symposium, ”The Institutions of Liberty”, took place from August 5-7, 2011. The discussion, led by Professor John Tomasi from Brown University, sought to address the relationship between freedom, markets, and culture in both a narrow and broad sense.  While competitive markets lead to wealthier societies with superior opportunities for individuals to employ their talents and labor, questions remain for many regarding the proper cultural and moral underpinnings of markets.  Criticisms are frequently leveled against markets that they undermine familial and cultural stability by promotion of ubiquitous individualism unmoored from any tradition or larger social order.  One focus of this conference was to evaluate these criticisms through an examination of the basis and operation of free markets and the factors (moral, cultural, religious, or otherwise) that are necessary to sustain them.