David Gordon (philosopher)

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Not to be confused with David Gordon (economist).

David Gordon
File:David Gordon by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Gordon in October 2017
Born (1948-04-07) April 7, 1948 (age 78)
EducationUniversity of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
OccupationsLibertarian philosopher and intellectual historian

David Gordon (born April 7, 1948) is an American libertarian philosopher and intellectual historian influenced by Murray Rothbard's views of economics.[1] He is a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a libertarian think tank, and is the editor of The Mises Review.

Education

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Gordon received his degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), including a doctorate in intellectual history.[2]

Career

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File:Blumert Rockwell Gordon Rothbard.jpg
Burton Blumert, Lew Rockwell, David Gordon, and Murray Rothbard

Gordon is a senior fellow of the Mises Institute, a libertarian think tank.[3] He previously worked for another libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, from 1979 to 1980.[4][5] He has written for the Rothbard-Rockwell Report published by Murray Rothbard and Lew Rockwell.[6] He became a specialist in Rothbard's works on political theory, history, economics, and other subjects.[independent source needed]

He has contributed to Analysis, International Philosophical Quarterly,[3] The Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics,[7] Social Philosophy and Policy[8] and Econ Journal Watch.[9] He also has been published in the Orange County Register,[10] The American Conservative[11] and The Freeman.[12]

In 1985 Gordon worked with Walter Block on a law review article, "Extortion and the Exercise of Free Speech Rights," which explores contradictions and paradoxes in laws against blackmail and the conditions under which such laws may be acceptable.[13][14]

Gordon's 1991 book Resurrecting Marx: The Analytical Marxists on Freedom, Exploitation, and Justice was described by Mises Institute scholar Yuri Maltsev as "a refutation of neo-Marxist attempts to save the system from itself."[15] The book, which answers the arguments of Marxist political philosophers, including G. A. Cohen, Jon Elster, and John Roemer, dismisses every form of Marxism as theoretically nonviable.[16] The American Political Science Review said Gordon's argument was "rather crude": capitalism could not be exploitative, and laissez-faire capitalism could serve a just world. Therefore, Gordon concludes, Marxism is "a complete failure."[17] Contemporary Sociology said Gordon failed to show that analytical Marxists were "a formidable weapon in the hands of anti-Marxists" such as himself.[1] Gordon was said to have shown little competency in anti-Marxist argument, falling into "easily avoided mistakes."[1] Paul Gottfried in The Review of Metaphysics assessed the book more positively, writing that Gordon had demonstrated that Cohen, Elster, and Roemer had failed to "rehabilitate Marx's economic theories". The review said Gordon's explanation of his own libertarian stance was "by far the most stimulating."[18] Oxford political scientist David Leopold noted Gordon's thumbnail test regarding whether a writer could be classified as an analytical Marxist as part of a common "misleading and unfortunate" understanding of the school, Gordon writing that a favorable stance on dialectics meant that the writer must be "crossed off the list."[19]

Gordon's book The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics (1992), which explores the philosophical origins of Carl Menger's economic theories, was highly praised by Murray Rothbard.[20] Writing in The Review of Austrian Economics, Barry Smith criticized the book for its over-simplistic division of philosophers into two camps—German (Hegelian, organicist, and anti-science) and Austrian (Aristotelian, individualist and pro-science)—despite philosophers having more complex interrelations. For example, Franz Brentano is exemplary of Austrian thought, though he was born in Germany and was strongly influenced by German philosopher Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg.[21] Gordon later wrote an essay, "Second Thoughts on The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics," to provide some additions and corrections to his book.[22][independent source needed]

In 2002, Gordon edited Secession, State & Liberty, a collection of essays arguing that ⁣⁣secession⁣⁣ should be seriously considered. The essays analyze U.S. history, examine theoretical issues, and apply these ideas to the modern world.[23]

In 2011, Gordon and Swedish consultant Per Nilsson analyzed books published by Harvard University Press in their paper "The Ideological Profile of Harvard University Press: Categorizing 494 Books Published 2000–2010" in Econ Journal Watch. They concluded that the press's ideology is predominantly leftist, although they acknowledged they hadn't read all the books they categorized.[9][24]

Assessments

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Gordon has been characterized by scholars and commentators as an influential participant in libertarian intellectual circles. Murray Rothbard described him as a friend and a highly learned figure.[25] In The Myth of National Defense, Luigi Marco Bassani and Carlo Lottieri referred to Gordon as a "semiofficial reviewer" within the libertarian movement. In the foreword to Strictly Confidential: The Private Volker Fund Memos of Murray N. Rothbard, Reason journalist Brian Doherty noted Gordon's extensive knowledge of the historical, philosophical, and economic foundations of libertarianism.[26]

The Orange County Register described Gordon as a polymath,[10] and in Reason Papers (Fall 1994), Peter J. Boettke described him as a philosopher and intellectual historian influenced by Rothbardian economics.

Books

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  3. ^ a b David Gordon biography at Ludwig von Mises Institute web site.
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  7. ^ David Gordon Literature Archive, Ludwig von Mises Institute listing.
  8. ^ David Gordon, "Marxism, Dictatorship, and the Abolition of Rights", Social Philosophy and Policy (1986), 3: 145–159, Cambridge University Press.
  9. ^ a b David Gordon with Per Nilsson, The Ideological Profile of Harvard University Press: Categorizing 494 Books Published 2000–2010, Econ Journal Watch, Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2011
  10. ^ a b "A liberty round table: Libertarian think tank brings its bracing philosophy to Costa Mesa" Archived August 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The Orange County Register, May 10, 2006.
  11. ^ Going Off the Rawls; Libertarians have adopted the Left's favorite modern philosopher Archived June 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The American Conservative, July 28, 2008, Issue.
  12. ^ David Gordon, "Murray Rothbard's Philosophy of Freedom" Archived April 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The Freeman, Foundation for Economic Education, November 2007, Volume: 57, Issue: 9.
  13. ^ J Feinberg, "The paradox of blackmail", Ratio Juris, 1988, Wiley Online Library.
  14. ^ Walter Block and David Gordon, "Extortion and the Exercise of Free Speech Rights: A Reply to Professors Posner, Epstein, Nozick and Lindgren," Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, 19, no. 1, November 1985, pp. 37–54.
  15. ^ Yuri N. Maltsev, Requiem for Marx, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1993, p. 29, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  16. ^ David Boaz, The Libertarian Reader, Simon & Schuster, 1998, p. 447.
  17. ^ Wright, Bruce E. (1992) "Review of David Gordon's Resurrecting Marx," American Political Science Review, Volume 86, Issue 2, Page 510
  18. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  20. ^ Murray Rothbard, " The Present State of Austrian Economics" Archived January 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, paper delivered October 9, 1992; reprinted in The Logic of Action One: Method, Money, and the Austrian School, Glos, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 1997, pp. 111–172. Rothbard writes: "For a brilliant and incisive discussion and demolition of the logical empiricist contention on many levels, see David Gordon, The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics."
  21. ^ Barry Smith "The philosophy of Austrian economics", Review of David Gordon's The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics, The Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 7, Number 2, 127–132, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  22. ^ David Gordon, "Second thoughts on The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics", The Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 7, No. 2.
  23. ^ George C. Leef, "A Feast of Challenges to the Conventional Wisdom" Archived March 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, a review of Secession, State & Liberty, Freeman On Line, 1998.
  24. ^ Nina Ayoub, "Harvard Press Leans Left, Economists Say", Chronicle of Higher Education, January 25, 2011.
  25. ^ Murray N. Rothbard, "Mr. Bush's shooting war," February 1991, published in Llewellyn H. Rockwell, editor, The Irrepressible Rothbard: The Rothbard-Rockwell Report Essays of Murray N. Rothbard, Center for Libertarian Studies, 2000, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  26. ^ Murray Rothbard, Strictly Confidential: The Private Volker Fund Memos of Murray N. Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2010, p. x, in foreword by Brian Doherty, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  27. ^ Description of Gordon's The Essential Rothbard written with access to Rothbard's private correspondence.
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