Pope Center Conference
I have a habit of putting my foot in my mouth around Mike Munger.
I think he’s a great scholar, fun speaker, excellent blogger, and well, just a swell guy.
But I have the urge to say things that I mean as questions and the come out as statements.
That’s what happened today at the Pope Conference.
Maybe I just need to tell him my whole schpiel. (two posts ago)
People tend to no d their heads, and go ahhh! so that’s what your angle is! or, so that’s how libertarianism fits in to your thought, etc. I’m hung up on the ethics end of it. That’s part of what makes Jeff encourage me to think about philosophy instead of economics. Only problem with that is employment.
1) There are very few Philosophy positions at Universities.
2) Econ profs get paid a lot more, and they can always go work for industry or, (gasp) the government.
Also at the Pope Conference today: The conflation of good scholarship and lousy conservatism, overly focused on Western Civilization.
People think that for some reason, Western Culture evolved the institutions of Liberalism that we have today. This is the Weberian thesis, which basically says, “Dead White Men Rock.”
(From the cover of the Politically Incorrect Guide to English Literature - I got my copy signed today. The author leaves Chesterton out, so I begin to furrow my brow at her, but we had a lovely lunch, and she shared her thoughts of Amity Shlaes new book with me, and Bill Cosby’s new book too. She reviews books. That’s what she does. I also don’t want a Ph.D. in English Lit. Good thing about Shlaes though, because I’m interviewing her on Monday for FTR. Woo Hoo!)
Back to Weber. Nials Ferguson thinks Weber is right in the Cash Nexus. So much so that he thinks it justifies American Imperialism. These are just bad ideas. Just because I shake the dice three times and roll snake eyes doesn’t mean that if I pick them up and shake them the same way again I’ll get the same results. Nor does it mean that if I shake the dice differently I am guaranteed NOT to roll snake eyes. It just doesn’t work that way!
But wait, you say, you’re a Christian, protestant (Calvinist even), white guy who believes in free markets and Classical Liberalism. Doesn’t that dedicate you to the pro Western-Civ side?
No.
I can choose which parts of Hayek I like, and I can point out where I think he is wrong. Same goes for Russel Kirk, and Strauss. I lean heavily toward Hayek and away from Kirk, and with Hayek say, “I am not a conservative.” Perhaps Conservatism isn’t intellectually satisfying enough for me. I dunno. I haven’t been offered a good enough argument for it yet.
Also at the Conference today:
A bunch of professor friends from NC State.
A bunch of slacker students from Campbell.
A bunch of retired professors from everywhere.
And: Mr. Art Pope, who I got to thank for all he’s done to enhance my education.
And: A representative of the Koch Foundation. He encouraged me to apply for a job with them. I wish I had the time for that, but I’m going to grad school.
Finally, for some reason the planners placed me at the reserved table for lunch with the Keynote speaker and some other panelists. I was very honored.
