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Articles by Aeon Skoble
Jack Mintz joins Fraser Institute as a Senior Fellow
Professor Mintz is one of Canada’s most knowledgeable economists and policy experts on taxation and public finance. He currently serves as the President’s Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, after serving as the Palmer Chair and founding director of the school from 2008 to 2015. He was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2015 and received the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
What Is the Government Good For?
Over the last several years, as we all navigate the surge of the deconstructive radical left and the surge of populism on the right, the meanings of several words and terms—once so sure and so inspirational—have become loose from their moorings. Words and terms such as conservative, classical liberal, libertarian, and even anarchist don’t mean quite what they once did. Even the very directional political terms—right and left—do not mean quite what they once did.
Rights, Restrictions, and Reality: 50 Years of Anarchy, State, and Utopia
Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia was released in 1974, shortly after (and partly in response to) his Harvard colleague John Rawls’ 1971 A Theory of Justice. Anarchy, State, and Utopia included a theory of rights and a right-based account of liberalism in the classic tradition, which offered an alternative not only to Rawls’ progressive redistributionist egalitarianism but also to socialism.
Review: The Soul of Civility
What does it mean to be civil? We can’t discuss whether civility is a virtue unless we know what we mean by “civility.” In her new book, Alexandra Hudson goes to great lengths to define civility, and argues that it is indeed a virtue, both in the personal and social sense. Individually, virtues are characteristics which people develop which are conducive to their leading a better life, and Hudson thinks civility is one of these.
In the Reading Room with Plato and Feminism
In previous columns I’ve discussed some reasons why there are insightful contributions from Plato that contemporary audiences might benefit from thinking about. Here’s another: his feminism. For the most part we don’t think of the world of 2500 years ago as especially demonstrative of gender parity.
In The Reading Room with Plato, Again: Work-Life Balance
Reading Room / In The Reading Room with Plato, Again: Work-Life Balance In our last visit with Plato, we considered what insights he has regarding free speech and cancel culture. Another topic one can’t help but read about these days is the need for psychological balance as we pursue happiness and fulfillment. Countless op-eds and magazine articles have bemoaned the dilemma: If I work 80 hours a week at the firm, I’ll make six figures, but can’t see my kids’ little-league games and dance recitals.
Review: Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media by Jacob Mchangama (Basic Books, 2022)
The book is exactly what the subtitle promises: a comprehensive history of the idea and the practice of free speech from ancient times up to today. It is a truly impressive survey of politics, history, law, and philosophy that reveals extensive and rigorously-sourced research, but which is also written in clear, conversational prose.
Thinking About Government with John Adams
Reading Room / Thinking About Government with John Adams In philosophy classes, students sometimes wonder why we continue to read long-dead thinkers like Plato or Descartes, and there are two sorts of answers I usually give. One is that, for better or worse, their ideas set the stage for debates that are still engaging, or raised questions that defy easy answers. The other is that, unlike in physics or chemistry, it’s not the case that the newer stuff is the truer stuff.
In The Reading Room with Plato
When recommending books that have been around for ages, it’s not uncommon to be faced with questions from skeptics. Why, they wonder, should I bother reading that old thing when there’s all this new stuff to read? I suspect there are two reasons for this.
In The Reading Room with Plato, and Some Politicians
Nevertheless, many of the observations Plato makes about the political side of the analogy are worth considering as we try to organize real-world polities. He suggests, for example, that both the rulers and the military should be given dormitory-style accommodations and living expenses but prohibited from accumulating vast wealth. Students generally get a laugh out of this, since literally every ruler they’ve ever heard of enjoys great wealth and luxury.
In The Reading Room with Aristotle
Aristotle was not a native Athenian; he came from Stagira, in northern Greece. In between his leaving Plato’s Academy and his return to Athens to found the Lyceum, he served as tutor to the Macedonian King Philip’s son Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great, who eventually amassed an empire stretching as far south as Egypt and as far east as India. Philosophy professors to this day are pleased when their students are successful in their endeavors.
Online Library of Liberty
Areopagitica (1644) (Jebb ed.) John Milton (author) This is Milton’s famous defense of freedom of speech and the press, in an edition based upon Sir Richard Jebb’s lectures at Cambridge in 1872, with extensive notes and commentaries. Mlton’s work was a protest against Parliament’s… The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Part 1 (The Oxford Shakespeare) William Shakespeare (author) The 1916 Oxford University Press edition of all of Shakespeare’s plays and poems.
Why Read the Ancients Today? (November/December 2022)
Why have ancient texts fallen out of favor today? Once read widely- both in homes and schools- texts by "dead white men" are looked upon today with disfavor. Yet some scholars- and readers- insist upon their enduring significance, even when they reflect a time and place foreign to what we know today. For this Liberty Matters, we invited a diverse group of scholars to ponder the question, Why Read the Ancients Today?
Thinking About Government with John Adams
Print Reprinted from the Online Library of Liberty In philosophy classes, students sometimes wonder why we continue to read long-dead thinkers like Plato or Descartes, and there are two sorts of answers I usually give. One is that, for better or worse, their ideas set the stage for debates that are still engaging, or raised questions that defy easy answers. The other is that, unlike in physics or chemistry, it’s not the case that the newer stuff is the truer stuff.
ALL RISE: Aaron Judge and Why It Matters
Print In the 1927 baseball season, Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs, which was notable not only for being the most to that date, but the most by far. The three previous records he broke were his own, and the one before that was 16, so hitting 60 in a single season was incredible. That was more than some entire teams hit in a season. Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a season endured until 1961, when Roger Maris managed to hit 61.
Thinking About Government with John Adams
In philosophy classes, students sometimes wonder why we continue to read long-dead thinkers like Plato or Descartes, and there are two sorts of answers I usually give. One is that, for better or worse, their ideas set the stage for debates that are still engaging, or raised questions that defy easy answers. The other is that, unlike in physics or chemistry, it’s not the case that the newer stuff is the truer stuff.
In the Reading Room with Plato and Feminism
In previous columns I’ve discussed some reasons why there are insightful contributions from Plato that contemporary audiences might benefit from thinking about. Here’s another: his feminism. For the most part we don’t think of the world of 2500 years ago as especially demonstrative of gender parity.
Carnivory as Conformity
I appreciate the calm and scholarly tone of Aeon Skoble’s defense of meat-eating, but as a piece of moral reasoning his commentary is disappointing in the way it repeats arguments that have long been subject to decisive criticisms. To cite but one example, the thought that we should eat meat because other animals do has obvious problems, as Peter Singer pointed out in the second edition of (1993).
Searching for Common Ground on Meat Eating and Public Policy
Michael Huemer’s essay is refreshing in its willingness to challenge genteel opinion regarding animals in the name of a more rigorous view. Two features of Huemer’s argument are especially attractive. First, it relies on parsimonious premises. The claim that pain and suffering are bad is much less controversial than its denial. Second, the argument is compatible with a range of political and moral philosophies.
The Conscience of a Human Being
I. The Test of Conscience Sometimes, I wonder whether average human beings possess a conscience—an ability to independently judge and be motivated by moral truths—or if they instead possess only the instinctive disposition to conform to social conventions and the demands of the powerful.
The Moral Status of Animal Suffering
Michael Huemer asks “are animals moral subjects?” I agree that this is an important question and that the treatment of animals is a significant moral matter. However, I think Huemer is wrong to base the argument on sentience and the intrinsic wrongness of pain. Sentience Huemer argues that animals are “moral subjects.” Though he doesn’t explicitly define what he means by being a moral subject, he seems to mean a being that has some kind of capacity to have experiences of pleasure or pain.
No, the State Shouldn't Pay Homemakers
Government stipends for homemakers are back in the news—but the case for such payments falls apart under scrutiny. A column by Claire Miller in the October 3rd, 2019, New York Times poses the question “Stay-at-Home Parents Work Hard. Should They Be Paid?” I couldn’t even get past the headline without asking “paid by whom?” The idea that the working parent should pay a salary to the stay-home parent seems like plugging the extension cord into itself and hoping for unlimited power.
Cracks in the Ivory Tower: A Dispiriting Assessment of Higher Education
A review of an extraordinary analysis that tackles the problems besetting the world of higher education. Jason Brennan and Phil Magness’s book Cracks in the Ivory Tower is a must-read for all academics. I don’t say that as hyperbole – everyone who participates in higher ed (administrators as well as faculty) really needs to read this impressive (and depressing) analysis of the problems besetting our profession in order to better understand the things we frequently complain about.
Who Is More Dangerous, Mark Zuckerberg or Ted Cruz?
When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was testifying before Congress, Senator Ted Cruz asked him about Facebook’s censorship of conservative groups, suggesting a bias or double-standard. Zuckerberg’s response was somewhat hedged but essentially affirmed a commitment to being “a platform for all ideas.” I have no first-hand evidence either that there is or that there isn’t such a bias, but something about the question strikes me as odd.
The Lobbying That Dare Not Speak Its Name
As of February 16th, the Senate hadn’t agreed on the immigration legislation that is necessary to cement protection for immigrants brought to America illegally while children. As I was driving to work, I heard Senator Coons say that there is widespread bipartisan agreement, and indeed overwhelming support in the population as a whole, that these people should be protected.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Marginalized People Would Bear the Brunt of Stricter Gun Control
It’s a dangerous proposition to write an opinion column in the wake of a school shooting, because, as is the case with any issue that causes emotions to run high, people who disagree will be outraged and hostile. But in the spirit of rational discourse, I would like to make an attempt at reasonable argument. By far the worst thing about school shootings is the harm done to victims and their families.
Don’t Be So Quick to Dismiss Public Choice (But Stop Caricaturing Autism)
On February 7th, 2018, Duke University historian Nancy MacLean said that classical liberals must be on the autism spectrum to have so little empathy or solidarity with others. Never mind that these claims are as ludicrous as they are easily disproven, one thing about this incident that stuck in my mind was what a great illustration it was of the dictum that politics degrades the character.
Cruel Alternatives: Respect for Law or Respect for Justice
Notorious criminals Syed Ahmed Jamal and Jorge Garcia have been apprehended and can no longer menace America. This is the government’s position. As it happens, one of these men is a chemistry professor and the other a landscaper; both have been living here peacefully for decades and are fathers of young children. Their crime? Living here without certain pieces of paper.
Yet Another Comically Bad Caricature of Libertarianism
As I was eating lunch today, a colleague of mine brought to my attention an article in Jacobin Magazine entitled “A Philosophy for the Propertied” – urging us to reject libertarianism as a utopian fantasy. My first response to my colleague was that I was too busy to make a full response, but then I wrote, “who am I kidding, I’ll have a look.” I predicted, just for fun, that most of what I’d find wrong in the piece would be based on misconception or caricature. I was correct.
Forrest Gump: A Subversive Movie
A Hollywood movie is like a box of chocolates: it tastes good, but it’s really bad for you. Of course, it isn’t bad to eat a small amount of chocolates; likewise, not all Hollywood movies are bad for you. But after seeing Forrest Gump, the charming aphorism that was central to the film (“My momma says that life is like a box of chocolates”) metamorphosed in my mind in this fashion. I caught myself enjoying the film while realizing that I was enjoying something unhealthy.
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