Liberty Matters

The OLL brings people together to debate and discuss important texts and big ideas about liberty.

Contrasting Views of Liberty in Hume and Rousseau (November 2024)

By: OLL Editor

David Hume’s skepticism and rigorous empiricism confront Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s idealism and passionate romanticism in this series about their perspectives on liberty. Hume and Rousseau were two of the most notorious and…

Oakeshott and Liberal Education (October 2024)

By: OLL Editor

Michael Oakeshott was an English political theorist and philosopher who is admired by many conservatives and classical liberals. In this Liberty Matters series, Elizabeth Corey relates Oakeshott's ideal categories of civil and…

Classical Liberals on Race (August/September 2024)

By: OLL Editor

Many classical liberals have been silent or passive when it comes to racism’s pernicious effects. Others have twisted or misunderstood classical liberalism to justify racist words and deeds.

The Rebirth of the Austrian School and the South Royalton Conference: Marking the Fifty-Year Anniversary (June 2024)

By: Richard Ebeling

The first Austrian Economics conference was held fifty years ago in 1974 in South Royalton, Vermont. In this Liberty Matters online discussion the authors share their recollections, thoughts on the fifty years since, and their hopes…

Harriet Taylor Mill on Marriage and Divorce (March/April 2024)

By: Giandomenica Becchio

In this Liberty Matters online discussion we assess the ideas of Harriet Taylor Mill and her partnership with John Stuart Mill. The authors often draw on Taylor Mill and Mill’s correspondence, edited by Friedrich von Hayek in 1951.…

Systemic Racism in Crime and Housing (February/March 2024)

By: Ramon P. DeGennaro

A previous set of essays explored systemic racism as a potential cause of racial disparities in education and healthcare. This set focuses on similar disparities in housing and crime.