Virtual Reading Groups
Would you like to join interesting people and have interesting conversations based on readings from the history of liberty?
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Our Virtual Reading Groups will each focus on a particular topic, and a common set of readings will form the basis for our discussions. Each group is facilitated by a professional moderator and is conducted online powered by Zoom.
Our Timeless Reading Groups are asynchronous and open to all in the Portal platform. Liberty Fund solicits a scholar to lead a discussion of a short story and/or essays that each participant will read and discuss. This format doesn’t require participants to use Zoom or “schedule” a specific time to participate.
Participation is offered at no-cost, and there is no need to be an expert on the topic for discussion! The only requirement is that participants be eager to read and engage in conversation.
Upcoming
Individual and Collective Responsibility in James Buchanan’s The Limits of Liberty
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At the heart of Buchanan’s work is a deep inquiry into fundamental questions of liberty and order in society. In this respect, Buchanan is a 20th century successor to 18th century Enlightenment thinkers. Yet he is a more modern…

A Timeless Reading Group: Labor, Social Justice, and Political Reform in Harriet Martineau
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Pre-registration is required.
with Nicholas Snow
This is the third in our series of Timeless reading groups about Harriet Martineau’s Illustrations of Political Economy. This time, we will read and discuss the next two novellas in the series, from volumes 3…

One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: Richard III
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Pre-registration is required.
Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday with one of his great villains! Shakespeare’s Richard III is a compelling portrait of the lengths to which ambition can drive a man. But is the play–despite its popularity–merely Tudor propaganda?…

The Power of "I": Exploring Ayn Rand's Anthem
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Pre-registration is required.
Does this bring back a high school reading assignment memory? Why not find a used copy, one that has surely been read by many, and sneak a couple-hour break from the world… and into a dystopian future?
Originally published in the…

A Timeless Reading Group: A Conservative Revolution? Friedrich von Gentz on the American Revolution
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Pre-registration is required.
The Austrian Statesman Friedrich von Gentz (1764-1832) was one of the first Europeans to publish a comparison of the American and French Revolutions. In it, Gentz argued that the American Revolution was superior to the French…
A Timeless Reading Group: Artificial Intelligence: Doom or Bloom?
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Pre-registration is required.
How will humans succeed (or survive) in the Age of AI?
Russ Roberts brought the world’s leading thinkers about artificial intelligence to the EconTalk audience and was early to the trend. He hosted Nick Bostrom on…

Lincoln’s Protégé: Ulysses S. Grant and the New Birth of Freedom
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Pre-registration is required.
Next to Abraham Lincoln, no citizen at the end of the Civil War stood in higher regard among the loyal American public than Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln’s sudden death in April 1865 opened an enormous cavity that beckoned someone—…

A Timeless Reading Group: Artificial Intelligence: Doom or Bloom?
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Pre-registration is required.
How will humans succeed (or survive) in the Age of AI?
Russ Roberts brought the world’s leading thinkers about artificial intelligence to the EconTalk audience and was early to the trend. He hosted Nick Bostrom on…

One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: Much Ado About Nothing
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Pre-registration is required.
Charles I famously crossed the title Much Ado About Nothing off his copy of the play and replaced it with “Beatrice and Benedick.” But entertaining and moving as these two bantering lovers are, it is the dangerous, near-tragic…

Liberty and the American Statesman: Samuel Johnson...Taxation no Tyranny
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Pre-registration is required.
This VRG considers two documents which present opposing views of the foundations of the British colonies in North America. Samuel Johnson was commissioned by the government of Prime Minister North to defend Parliamentary…

Artificial Intelligence: Doom or Bloom?
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Pre-registration is required.
How will humans succeed (or survive) in the Age of AI?
Russ Roberts brought the world’s leading thinkers about artificial intelligence to the EconTalk audience and was early to the trend. He hosted Nick Bostrom on…

Human Freedom and Responsibility in the Book of Genesis
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Pre-registration is required.
The Book of Genesis, which has as strong a claim as any to be the source text of Western civilization, devotes considerable attention to the themes of freedom and responsibility. For example, in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve…

God, Religion, and Hume's Skepticism
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Pre-registration is required.
David Hume wrote extensively on religious and theological matters in his many philosophical, literary, and political essays. He was condemned in his time as an atheist and a deist by church authorities and celebrated as a…

Fathers and Sons: Generations in Conflict
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Pre-registration is required.
Families and the Rhythm of Life. The Generational Divide. Conflict and the Ties that Bind Us. Could these also be titles for Turgenev’s 1862 family drama that shook the Russian literary world? Turgenev challenged and angered some…

A Timeless Reading Group: Harriet Martineau's Illustrations of Political Economy: Wine and Politics
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Pre-registration is required.
This is the fourth in our series of Timeless reading groups about Harriet Martineau’s Illustrations of Political Economy. For this discussion, we will read and discuss the novella “French Wines and Politics.” This piece explores…

Past Sessions
A Timeless Reading Group: Dive Deep into Hayek's "The Use of Knowledge in Society"
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Join our Timeless online reading group to commemorate Friedrich Hayek’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences Award and dive into his essay “The Use of Knowledge in Society.” Explore with us the complexities of economic…

Benjamin Franklin and the Founding
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Tuesdays October 1, 8, and 15, 2024, 2:00-3:00 pm EDT
with Steve Ealy
This VRG will examine three aspects of Franklin’s thought through his writings, both private and public. We will be able to trace the development of his ideas…

Liberty, Law, and the Social Contract in Hobbes to Hume
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Tuesdays October 1, 8, 15, and 22, 2024, 1:00-2:30 pm EDT
with Ted Harpham
The idea of the social contract — the idea that individuals enter into an agreement to cooperate for larger social and political benefits out of a state…
One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare Plays: Henry V
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1:00-2:30 pm EDT
with Sarah Skwire
Here we see Hal, now King Henry V, on his throne. What lessons has he brought with him from his former wild days? What problems still haunt him? Hal is faced by a series of challenges at home…

Buchanan's Natural and Artifactual Man
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12:00-1:30 pm EDT
with Paul Lewis
In this essay, which was first published by Liberty Fund in 1979, Nobel Laureate James Buchanan examines the significance of what he describes as man’s ‘artifactual’ nature. As understood by…

A Timeless Reading Group: Michael Oakeshott on Education and Community
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with Bradley Birzer
Along with Russell Kirk, C.S. Lewis, Robert Nisbet, Leo Strauss, and Friedrich Hayek, Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) was one of the most interesting and thoughtful conservatives of the twentieth century.…

Personal Freedoms and the Nature of Man in Graphic Novels
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Tuesdays September 10, 17, and 24, 2024, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT
with Renee Wilmeth
One of the benefits of literature is that we as readers can explore new philosophies and theories through the eyes of characters and their actions. Add…

Michael Oakeshott on the Human Condition
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In this virtual reading group, we will reflect on the achievement of Michael Oakeshott, using Timothy Fuller’s book of essays, Michael Oakeshott on the Human Condition, as our primary text. Fuller and Oakeshott were close…
