[Seth-Trips] David Friedman on "A Positive Account of Rights", June 15 [jeaniekennedy@hotmail.com: [ind-anarchist] You're Invited - Free Exchange for 6/15]

[Seth David Schoen]

I haven't been to a David Friedman talk (or a Free Exchange) in a
while.  Since I've been prone to some bouts (or fits) of moral
skepticism recently, I'd be curious to hear what Friedman's thinking
is up to.

----- Forwarded message from Jeanie Kennedy <jeaniekennedy at hotmail.com> -----

To: jeaniekennedy at hotmail.com
From: "Jeanie Kennedy" <jeaniekennedy at hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 21:46:35 +0000
Subject: [ind-anarchist] You're Invited - Free Exchange for 6/15


         * F R E E   E X C H A N G E *

      for Saturday evening, June 15, 2002

                   presents

            DR. DAVID D. FRIEDMAN

                     on

        "A POSITIVE ACCOUNT OF RIGHTS

                     or,

         WHAT IS GOVERNMENT ANYWAY?"

                     * * *

Blurb:

What are rights and why do they exist?
Most answers to that question are based
either on moral philosophy or on law.

This speech offers an answer that is based
on neither--a positive account of rights,
an attempt not to justify them but to explain
them as features of human behavior. It is
based on ideas that grew out of the attempt
to answer the question "what is a government--
what distinguishes it from other institutions?"

This speech will be largely based on an
article which can be found webbed at:
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Property/Property.html

Curriculum Vitae

David Friedman has an incredibly diverse
academic background.  He is currently a
Professor of Law at Santa Clara University
in both the Law School and the Business
School. During the Spring semester 2002 he
taught a teaching seminar on "Legal Issues
of the 21st Century," as well as an
introduction to economics course.

Dr. Friedman's past academic work includes
degrees from:
Harvard University, B.A., 1965 (Chemistry
and Physics);
University of Chicago, M.S., 1967 (Physics),
PhD., 1971 (Physics).

David has taught at:

University of Chicago Law School
Cornell Law School
Tulane University
UCLA, Dept of Economics
UC Irvine
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
University of Pennsylvania School of
Public and Urban Policy
Columbia University (Research Associate, Physics)

Dr. Friedman's latest book is _Law's Order:
What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It
Matters,_ published by Princeton University
Press. It is accompanied by a book web page,
which contains images of the entire book
along with an extensive system of links --
think of them as virtual footnotes -- to
additional material.

His previous book was _Hidden Order: The
Economics of Everyday Life,_ published by
Harper-Collins. Copies are available from
Laissez-Faire books and Amazon.com as well
as many local bookstores.

All of one earlier book of David's, _Price
Theory: An Intermediate Text,_ is now webbed.
So are some sample chapters of his excellent
first book, _The Machinery of Freedom: Guide
to a Radical Capitalism._

David's current writing project is _Future
Imperfect,_ a book about technological change
in the near future and its consequences. A
partial draft is webbed; comments are welcome.

Mr. Friedman has recently written drafts of
articles on contract enforcement online, drugs
and violence, and economics and evolutionary
psychology, such as  _Why We are Getting
Smarter: A Conjectural Explanation._

David's children go to Cedarwood Sudbury
School, "an odd and interesting place." If
you are in the Bay Area and have kids, you
might want to investigate it.

In addition, David and his wife, Betty, still
have time to participate in Recreational
Medievalism, as members of the Society for
Creative Anachronism (SCA). For FEX's social
hour, we are having a Medieval theme.

   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

     6:30 p.m. Social/Happy Hour/Potluck*

                 8:00 Speech

                Admission: $10

Location:  Opera Plaza Homeowners Rec Room
           601 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco,
           between Turk & Golden Gate,
           Mezzanine Floor (take elevator in
           front of movie theatre)

                      # # #

* Sponsored by Jeanie Kennedy with the help
of the International Society for Individual
Liberty (ISIL), Benicia, CA.

-- Don't forget:
ISIL's annual conference in Puerto Vallarta
is July 27th with a post-conference tour to
Guadalajara, ending August 4th. Airfare is
currently under $378, round trip.

*  Call Jeanie at 510-647-3471 if you want
suggestions on what to bring to the potluck
social hour. You can get Medieval recipes
from David Friedman's website.

*  Free Exchange usually happens on the 3rd
Saturday evening of every ~other~ month.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

August 17, 2002 - Jeff Hummel, a Free Exchange
treasure, speaks against the "War on Terror."

October 19, 2002 - Jim March, local man and hot
libertarian speaker, giving an expose of city
and state politicians' attempts at squelching
the right to carry concealed weapons, including
the State Attorney General!

December 21, 2002 - Doug Clements, aka
Logan Darrow, founder of the Silicon Valley
Objectivists, on the Difference between
Objectivists and Libertarians.

February 2003 - Drs. Sharon Presley and
Michael Edelstein debate "Self-Esteem,
Pro and Con."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are a couple of quotes:

"They make a rout about universal liberty
without considering that all that is to be
valued, or indeed can be enjoyed by
individuals, is private liberty. Political
liberty is good only so far as it produces
private liberty."
                 -- Samuel Johnson, 1768

"Civilization is the progress of society
towards privacy."
                 -- Ayn Rand

[...]

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Reading is a right, not a feature!
     http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/   |                 -- Kathryn Myronuk
     http://vitanuova.loyalty.org/     |