Liberty Fund Colloquia

The Liberty Fund, Inc. of Indianapolis is a tax-exempt private operating foundation which conducts its own program of educational activities. The two Liberty Fund colloquia organized under the aegis of The Locke Institute were part of an ongoing program " to encourage the exploration of human liberty and those institutional arrangements that seem to support it." Dr Emilio Pacheco was the Liberty Fund observer at both events.

The colloquia provided opportunities for small multi-disciplinary groups to revisit John Locke's writings and to consider their relevance to democracy in the late twentieth century. The formats of the colloquia were designed to encourage discussion and exploration of ideas. Prof. Charles K. Rowley, General Director of The Locke Institute, was the Colloquium Director and Discussion Leader.

First Colloquium:

"'Life, Liberty and Property' and the Limits of Democracy", December 12-15, 1991 in Charleston, South Carolina

The scholars revisited John Locke's Second Treatise of Government to consider the relevance and significance of this text for life, liberty and property and the limits of democracy worldwide in the late twentieth century. The subject matter was especially apposite given the unfreezing of the political landscape during the early 1990's ushered in by the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the re-emergence of democracy in Latin America, and the movement towards federation in Western Europe.

Participants:

• Prof. Norman Barry, Dept. of Political Science
  University of Buckingham, England

• Prof. Bruce L. Benson, Dept. of Economics
  Florida State University, FL

• Prof. Peter J. Boettke, Dept. of Economics
  New York University, NY

• Prof. James M. Buchanan, Center for Study of Public Choice
  George Mason University, VA

• Prof. Tyler Cowen, Dept. of Economics
  George Mason University, VA

• Judge Douglas H, Ginsburg, United States Court of Appeals
  District of Columbia Circuit, Washington, D.C.

• Prof. Robert Higgs, Dept. of Economics
  Seattle University, WA

• Prof. Dennis Mueller, Dept. of Economics
  University of Maryland, MD

• Prof. Jan Narveson, Dept. of Philosophy
  University of Waterloo, Canada

• Prof. Svetozar Pejovich, Center for Free Enterprise
  Texas A & M University, TX

• Prof. John P. Reid, Huntingdon Library
  San Marino, CA

• Prof. Gordon Tullock, Dept. of Economics
  University of Arizona, AZ

• Prof. Charlotte Twight, Dept. of Economics
  Boise State University, ID

• Prof. Richard E. Wagner, Center for Study of Public Choice
  George Mason University, VA

• Prof. Edwin G. West, Dept. of Economics
  Carleton University, Canada

Second Colloquium:

"Ethics, Liberty & Markets ", June 24-27, 1993 in Boston, Massachusetts

The scholars read John Gray's Post Liberalism and Douglas Rasmussen and Douglas Den Uyl's Liberty and Nature as a background from which to consider the prospects for classical liberal ideology in the post-socialist order. The collapse of communist regimes throughout Eastern Europe clearly heralds the end of socialism as a viable means of political and economic organization. Yet, the death of socialism has not been accompanied by any significant call in the West for a restoration of those classical liberal principles that generated economic advance and individual liberty in much of Europe and North America during the nineteenth century. The colloquium explored the doubts expressed by John Gray and Robert Nozick on the ethical justification for classical liberalism, assessed the significance of such doubts for the intellectual viability of classical liberalism and reviewed the underlying relationship between ethics, liberty and markets.

Participants:

• Prof. Norman P. Barry, School of Humanities
  University of Buckingham, England

• Prof. Peter Danielson, Centre for Applied Ethics
  University of British Columbia, Canada

• Mr. Anthony de Jasay
  Paluel, France

• Dr. John N. Gray, Jesus College
  Oxford University, England

• Prof. Friedrich V. Kratochwyl, Dept. of Political Sciences
  University of Pennsylvania, PA

• Prof. Donald W. Livingston, Dept. of Philosophy
  Emory University, GA

• Prof. Loren E. Lomasky, Dept. of Philosophy
  Bowling Green University, OH

• Prof. Gene Mumy, Dept. of Economics
  Ohio State University, OH

• Prof. Douglas B. Rasmussen, Dept. of Philosophy
  St. John's University, NY

• Prof. Charlotte Twight, Dept. of Economics
  Boise State University, MD

• Prof. Richard E. Wagner, Dept. of Economics
  George Mason University, VA

• Prof. Edwin G. West
  Ottawa, Canada

• Prof. Catherine Zuckert, Dept. of Political Science
  Carleton College, MN

• Prof. Mark Zupan, Dept. of Finance & Business Economics
  University of Southern California, CA