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 Hans-Hermann Hoppe | |
| Born | (1949-09-02) September 2, 1949 (age 75) Peine, West Germany |
| Nationality | German American |
| Academic career | |
| Field | Austrian Economics, Political Philosophy |
| Institution | University of Nevada, Las Vegas |
| School or tradition | Austrian School |
| Alma mater | Goethe University Frankfurt |
| Influences | Ludwig von Mises Murray Rothbard Jürgen Habermas Karl-Otto Apel Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn |
| Contributions | Argumentation ethics, Analysis of democracy and public goods theory |
| Awards | The Frank T. and Harriet Kurzweg Award (2004) The Gary G. Schlarbaum Prize (2006) Franz Cuhel Memorial Prize (2009) |
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Template:IPA-de; born September 2, 1949) is a German-born academic, libertarian theorist and an Austrian School economist. He also has described himself as an anarcho-capitalist social theorist, though he prefers to be known as an advocate of a "private law society". He is Professor Emeritus with the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and currently resides in Istanbul, Turkey. He has written several books and his writings have been translated into several foreign languages. Hoppe's views have generated controversy among his colleagues.
Life and work
Hoppe was born in Peine, West Germany, did undergraduate studies at Universität des Saarlandes and received his MA and PhD degrees from Goethe University, Frankfurt. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, from 1976 to 1978 and earned his habilitation in Foundations of Sociology and Economics from the University of Frankfurt in 1981. In 1986, after a succession of teaching jobs in Europe, he moved from Germany to the United States, where he was associated with Murray Rothbard. until the latter's death in January 1995. Hoppe was a Professor in the School of Business at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, until his retirement in 2008.
Hoppe is a Distinguished Fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, which has published much of his work. He has been editor of various Mises Institute periodicals. In 2006, he founded The Property & Freedom Society.
Hoppe is married to Margaret Hoppe who has lectured at the English Language Center of the University of Las Vegas.
Argumentation ethics
Main article: Argumentation ethicsHoppe stated a theory which he named Argumentation ethics in an attempt to establish an a priori and value-neutral justification for libertarian ethics. Hoppe's argument asserts that arguments which in any respect contradict libertarian principles are logically incoherent.
Hoppe stated his view in the publication Liberty in September 1988. In the following issue, the publication carried a number of comments, followed by a response to the comments from Hoppe. In his comment, Murray Rothbard wrote that Hoppe's theory was, "a dazzling breakthrough for political philosophy in general and for libertarianism in particular" and that Hoppe, "has managed to transcend the famous is/ought, fact/value dichotomy that has plagued philosophy since the days of the Scholastics, and that had brought modern libertarianism into a tiresome deadlock".
Democracy: The God That Failed
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Hoppe argues in Democracy: The God That Failed that democracy is economically and socially damaging as a political system. Though advocating the abolition of the state and arguing that all government systems are "parasitic", Hoppe argues that monarchical government is preferable to democracy. He argues that since a monarch regards the government as his “personal possession” which he will "pass on ... to his heirs", the king will have a greater incentive than temporarily-elected democratic representatives to "preserve or ... enhance" the value of his nation. Writes Hoppe, "the would systematically restrain himself in his taxing policies, for the lower the degree of taxation, the more productive the subject population will be, and the more productive the population, the higher the value of the" king's nation.
In a review of the book, Walter Block, a colleague of Hoppe's at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute, asserts that Hoppe's arguments shed light "on historical occurrences, from wars to poverty to inflation to interest rates to crime." Block notes that while Hoppe concedes that 21st-century democracies are more prosperous than the monarchies of old, Hoppe argues that if nobles and kings replaced today's political leaders, their ability to take a long term view of a country's well-being would “improve matters.” Block also shared what he called minor criticisms of Hoppe’s theses regarding time preferences, immigration and the gap between libertarianism and conservatism.
Regarding the "covenant entailed in a libertarian (proprietary) community" which he envisions, Hoppe wrote:
In a covenant founded for the purpose of protecting family and kin, there can be no tolerance toward those habitually promoting life-styles incompatible with this goal. They – the advocates of alternative, non-family and kin-centred lifestyles such as, for instance, individual hedonism, parasitism, nature-environment worship, homosexuality, or communism – will have to be physically removed from society, too, if one is to maintain a libertarian order.
Commenting on this passage, Martin Snyder of the American Association of University Professors said Hoppe's words will disturb "hose with a better memory than Hoppe for segregation, apartheid, internment facilities and concentration camps, for yellow stars and pink triangles". Walter Block wrote that Hoppe's comments calling for "homosexuals and others to be banned from polite society" were "exceedingly difficult to reconcile it with libertarianism" because "the libertarian philosophy would support the rights of both groups to act in such manners."
In response Stephan Kinsella and Hoppe argued that Hoppe's critics were taking his claims out of context. Kinsella argued that that Hoppe's discussion of "physically removing" homosexuals and other groups only applied to "private, covenant-based communities" centered around traditional values. Hoppe argued that, read in context, his remarks were "hardly more offensive than saying that the Catholic Church should excommunicate those violating its fundamental precepts or that a nudist colony should expel those insisting on wearing bathing suits".
Views on immigration
Though an anarchist who favors abolishing the nation-state, Hoppe believes that as long as states exist, they should impose some restrictions on immigration. Hoppe has equated free immigration to "forced integration" which violates the rights of native peoples, since if land were privately owned, immigration would not be unhindered but would only occur with the consent of private property owners. Hoppe's Mises Institute colleague Walter Block has characterized Hoppe as an "anti-open immigration activists" who argues that, though all public property is "stolen" by the state from taxpayers, "the state compounds the injustice when it allows immigrants to use property, thus further “invading” the private property rights of the original owners." However, Block rejects Hoppe's views as incompatible with libertarianism. Employing a reductio ad absurdum argument, he argued that Hoppe's logic implies that flagrantly unlibertarian laws such as regulations on prostitution and drug use "could be defended on the basis that many tax-paying property owners would not want such behavior on their own private property".
In terms of specific immigration restrictions, Hoppe argued that an appropriate policy will require immigrants to the United States to display proficiency in English in addition to "superior (above-average) intellectual performance and character structure as well as a compatible system of values". These requirements will, he argued, result in a "systematic pro-European immigration bias". Quoting the latter remark, Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation argued that "the immigration test advocates to ensure" that immigrants to the United States are those whom Hoppe considers "superior people" would "probably prejudice against Latin American" immigrants, irrespective of their "strong work ethic and ... deep commitment to free enterprise, family values ... religious principles" and other positive qualities Hornberger believes they would bring to the country.
Academic freedom controversy
On March 4, 2004, during a lecture in a course on money and banking at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Hoppe stated that, in part owing to the fact that they are generally childless, homosexuals do not plan for the future to the same extent as heterosexuals. Hoppe said that homosexuals, like the very young and the very old, are more present-oriented with respect to their behavioral patterns, and also suggested that John Maynard Keynes' alleged homosexuality might explain his economic views. A student later formally accused Hoppe of creating a "hostile classroom environment". Hoppe told a reporter that the comments lasted only 90 seconds of a 75 minute class, no students questioned the comments in that class, and that in 18 years of giving the same lecture to students, no students had complained about the comments.
An investigation was conducted and the university's provost, Raymond W. Alden III, issued Hoppe a non-disciplinary letter of instruction on February 9, 2005, with a finding that he had "created a hostile or intimidating educational environment in violation of the University's policies regarding discrimination as to sexual orientation." Alden also instructed Hoppe to "...cease mischaracterizing opinion as objective fact", asserted that Hoppe's opinion was not supported by peer-reviewed academic literature, and remarked that Hoppe had "refus to substantiate in-class statements of fact...."
Hoppe appealed the decision, saying the university had "blatantly violated its contractual obligations" toward him and described the action as "frivolous interference with my right to academic freedom". He was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU threatened legal action. ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein said "The charge against professor Hoppe is totally specious and without merit". The Nevada ACLU executive director said "We don't subscribe to Hans' theories and certainly understand why some students find them offensive....But academic freedom means nothing if it doesn't protect the right of professors to present scholarly ideas that are relevant to their curricula, even if they are controversial and rub people the wrong way". Arden's decision was picked up by Fox News and several blogs and libertarians organized a campaign to contact the university. The university received two weeks of bad publicity and the Interim Chancellor (Nevada System of Higher Education) Jim Rogers expressed concerns about "any attempts to thwart free speech."
Jim Rogers intervened and UNLV President UNLV Carol Harter acted upon Hoppe's appeal on February 18, 2005. She decided that Hoppe's views, even if non-mainstream or controversial, should not be cause for reprimanding him. She dismissed the discrimination complaint against Hoppe and the non-disciplinary letter was withdrawn from Hoppe's personnel file. She wrote:
UNLV, in accordance with policy adopted by the Board of Regents, understands that the freedom afforded to Professor Hoppe and to all members of the academic community carries a significant corresponding academic responsibility. In the balance between freedoms and responsibilities, and where there may be ambiguity between the two, academic freedom must, in the end, be foremost.
Hoppe later wrote about the incident and the UNLV investigation in an article entitled "My Battle With the Thought Police". Martin Snyder of the American Association of University Professors wrote that he should not be "punished for freely expressing his opinions."
Selected works
Books
- Handeln und Erkennen (Bern, 1976) ISBN 978-3261019004 OCLC 2544452
- Kritik der kausalwissenschaftlichen Sozialforschung (Westdeutscher Verlag, 1983) ISBN 978-3531116242 OCLC 10432202
- Eigentum, Anarchie und Staat (Westdeutscher Verlag, 1987) ISBN 978-3531118116 OCLC 18226538
- A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989) ISBN 0-89838-279-3. (Full Text in PDF format)
- Economic Science and the Austrian Method (Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1995) ISBN 0-945466-20-X. (Full Text in PDF format)
- Democracy: The God That Failed: the economics and politics of monarchy, democracy and natural order. (Transaction Publishers, 2001) ISBN 0-7658-0868-4 OCLC 46384089
- The Economics and Ethics of Private Property (2nd edition, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2006) ISBN 0-945466-40-4
- Editor and contributor: The Myth of National Defense. Essays on the Theory and History of Security Production (Ludwig von Mises Institute, October 2003) ISBN 978-0945466376 OCLC 53401048. (Full Text in PDF format) Includes writings by L.M. Bassani, C. Lottieri, M.N. Rothbard, E. von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, B. Lemennicier, G. Radnitsky, J.R. Stromberg, L.J. Sechrest, J.R. Hummel, W. Block and J.G. Hulsmann.
Articles
- Full text of Hoppe's 1998 introduction to The Ethics of Liberty by Murray Rothbard (also in PDF format)
- Hoppe, Hans Hermann (1988). "On the Ultimate Justification of the Ethics of Private Property" (PDF). Liberty. 2.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Hoppe, Hans Hermann. "In Defense of Extreme Rationalism: Thoughts on D. McCloskey's The Rhetoric of Economics" (PDF).
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - Hoppe, Hans Hermann (1988). "breakthrough or buncombe?" (PDF). Liberty. 2.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Hoppe, Hans Hermann (1996). "Small is Beautiful and Efficient: The Case for Secession". Telos. 107.
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References
- "The Gary G. Schlarbaum Prize". Mises Institute Awards. Ludwig von Mises Institute.
- ^ Wile, Anthony (March 27, 2011). "Dr. Hans-Hermann Hoppe on the Impracticality of One-World Government and the Failure of Western-style Democracy". The Daily Bell.
- Peter J. Boettke, Calculation and Coordination: Essays on Socialism and Transitional Political Economy Routledge Foundations of the Market Economy, Routledge, 2002, p. 295, ISBN 0203469682, 9780203469682
- Stephen Hunt Davis, Research and practice in education: the search for common ground, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008, p. 49, ISBN 1578868408, 9781578868407
- Steven Yates, Hans-Hermann Hoppe's Austrian Philosophy, Reason Papers: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Normative Studies, Issue 21, Fall 1996, p. 91.
- Block, Walter (1996). "Review of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, The Economics and Ethics of Private Property". Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines. 7 (1). doi:10.2202/1145-6396.1205.
In the pantheon of Austrian-libertarians, first there was Mises... These two are truly 'hard acts to follow'. But with the publication of The Economics and Ethics Private Property, Hoppe bids fair to one day claiming the mantle of worthy successor to these two pathbreaking thinkers.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) link to paper - Hans-Hermann Hoppe personal website, HansHoppe.com.
- ^ "UNLV Catalog" (PDF). p. 47. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
- Translations at Hanshoppe.com.
- Jeff Tucker interviews Hans-Hermann Hoppe (1 October 2011)
- "Juan Ramón Rallo interviews Mises Institute scholar Hans-Hermann Hoppe at the Instituto Juan de Mariana's".
- "''The Property & Freedom Society''". Propertyandfreedom.org. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
- Hans Herman Hoppe, The Ethics and Economics of Private Property, Second Edition, Ludwig von Mises Institute, p. xii, ISBN 13: 978-0-945466-40-6 ISBN 10: 0-945466-40-4.
- Faculty Listing, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, accessed May 26, 2013.
- ^ Symposium: Breakthrough or Buncombe? with comments from Murray Rothbard, David D. Friedman, Leland B. Yeager, David Gordon and Douglas B. Rasmussen and from Hans-Hermann Hoppe.(Liberty, November 1988)
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe's Argumentation Ethic: A Critique, Robert Murphy and Gene Callahan. Relevant text on Page 3: "Therefore, concludes that the libertarian view of property rights is the only one that can possibly be defended by rational argument."
- R.M. Pearce, Book Review: Democracy: the God That Failed, National Observer (Australia), No. 56, Autumn 2003.
- http://mises.org/misesreview_detail.aspx?control=199 (first paragraph)
- http://mises.org/misesreview_detail.aspx?control=199
- Walter Block, Review of Democracy: The God that Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order, The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 61, No. 3, July, 2002.
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Democracy: The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order, Transaction Publishers, 2001, pp. 216-218
- ^ Snyder, Martin D. (March 1, 2005). "Birds of a Feather?". Academe. American Association of University Professors. Retrieved April 17, 2013, from HighBeam Research.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - Walter Block (Loyola University New Orleans), "Libertarianism is unique; it belongs neither to the right nor the left: a critique of the views of Long, Holcombe, and Baden on the left, Hoppe, Feser and Paul on the right", undated, published at Ludwig von Mises Institute website, p. 22-23.
- Stephan Kinsella Hoppe on Covenant Communities and Advocates of Alternative Lifestyles, LewRockwell.com, 27 May 2010.
- ^ Hans-Hermann Hoppe, "My Battle With the Thought Police", Ludwig von Mises Institute web site, April 12, 2005.
- Hans Hoppe,On Free Immigration and Forced Integration, LewRockwell.com, 1999.
- Anthony Gregory and Walter Block On Immigration: Reply to Hoppe, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Volume 21, No. 3, Fall 2007, 25–42
- Walter Block and Gene Callahan, Is There a Right to Immigration?: A Libertarian Perspective, Human Rights Review, October-December 2003.
- Jacob Hornberger, Let’s Stick with Traditional American Values!, The Future of Freedom Foundation, February 1, 2000.
- Snyder, Martin D.. "Birds of a Feather?." Academe. American Association of University Professors. 2005. Retrieved May 24, 2013 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-829841891.html Quote:"He also suggested that the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes might he explained by Keynes's reputed homosexuality."
- ^ Richard Lake, UNLV accused of limiting free speech, Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 05, 2005.
- Alden, III, Raymond W. (February 9, 2005). "Findings and non-disciplinary letter of instruction" (PDF).
- Justin Chomintra, Professor, ACLU may sue UNLV, The Rebel Yell, February 10, 2005; reprinted by Stephen Kinsella at Mises.org, February 10, 2005.
- ^ "Efforts to punish UNLV professor gains exposure". Las Vegas Sun. February 8, 2005. Retrieved May 23, 2013.
- "Exoneration sought for UNLV professor". Las Vegas Sun. February 21, 2005. Retrieved May 23, 2013.
- "Rogers nixes Hoppe sabbatical". Las Vegas Sun. February 23, 2005. Retrieved May 23, 2013.
- Carol Harter (February 18, 2005). "Statement of Dr. Carol Harter, President of UNLV, regarding Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe" (PDF).
Further reading
- "UNLV provost defends stance in Hoppe case". Las Vegas Sun. March 9, 2005.
- Leake, Eric (March 1, 2005). "Former student pushes for action against professor". Las Vegas Sun.
External links
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe homepage
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe, The Mises Institute
- Property, Freedom, and Society – Festschrift (essays honoring Hoppe from the Mises Institute)
- The Property and Freedom Society
- Hoppe's archives at LewRockwell.com
- 1949 births
- Living people
- People from Peine (district)
- Saarland University alumni
- Goethe University Frankfurt alumni
- American anarchists
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- Austrian School economists
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