Libertarianism in History

Calendar

SES #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
Introduction
1	Nuts and Bolts (What this Course is about)
2	Some Contemporary Libertarian Controversies
Part One: Ideals of Freedom, Autonomy, and Civil Society
3	Roots of Modern Freedom (I): The Ancient and Medieval Periods
4	Roots of Modern Freedom (II): The Early Modern Period
5	Revolutionary Liberty (I)
6	Revolutionary Liberty (II)
7	Modern Valuations of Liberty as the Ultimate Political and Economic Good (I)
8	Modern Valuations of Liberty as the Ultimate Political and Social Good (II)
9	Complementary or Contradictory Ideals (I): Property	First Reading Response due
10	Complementary or Contradictory Ideals (II): Equality and Distributive Justice Class Debate: John Rawls v. Robert Nozick
11	Complementary or Contradictory Ideals (III): Communitarianism and Civic Republicanism
Part Two: Case Studies in the Rise of Modern Liberty / Libertarianism
Slavery and Abolition (Paradoxes of Property and Personal Freedom)
12	Chattel Slavery and the “Freedom Principle”	Paper 1 due
13	Antislavery and Liberty (I)
14	Antislavery and Liberty (II)	Second Reading Response due
Freedom of the Spirit: Belief, Conduct, and the First Amendment
15	The First Amendment Religion Clauses and “Freedom of Conscience” Guest Discussant: Jack N. Rakove, Stanford University
16	The Rise of Free Exercise in Modern America
17	Religious Accommodation and Civil Rights Today
From Civil Liberties to Civil Libertarianism
18	The Creation of the Modern American Civil Liberties Movement
19	The First Amendment and Free Speech Guest Discussant: Harvey A. Silverglate
Part Three: Liberty and the Contemporary Administrative-regulatory State
Counter-terrorism and Health Care
20	The National Security Agency’s Phone Surveillance Program	Paper 2 Outline due (Optional)
21	Obamacare Class Debate: Obamacare
The Financial Markets
22	The Origins of the 2008 Financial Crisis
23	Efficient Markets and the Derivatives Debate
Internet Freedom
24	The Power of Private Regulation
25	Boundaries of the Internet	Third Reading Response due
26	The Case of Aaron Swartz	Paper 2 due