Cato Unbound is hosting a debate that is going to start hotting up tomorrow. David Schmidtz and Jason Brennan started with an excerpt from their new book A Brief History of Liberty: “Conceptions of Freedom.” I offered my criticism (I admire both Schmidtz and Brennan, but I strongly disagreed), “Liberty is Liberty.” Then “republican” theorist Philip Pettit, author of Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, offered his critique, “On the Promotion of Liberty,” followed by John Christman, author of The Myth of Property: Toward an Egalitarian Theory of Ownership, responded in “Out of the Armchair, into Indeterminacy.”
Tomorrow David and Jason will respond and then we’ll debate the issues back and forth. I’ve read Schmidtz’s and Brennans’ book and Christman’s book and am nearly done with Pettit’s, and I’ve got lots to say. Watch this space….
