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The Vision of Ed Younkins’s Trilogy on Freedom and Flourishing

By Winton Bates

May 15, 2024

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“Each of us needs to be an unceasing student who never stops learning about the philosophy and practice of freedom. This will enable us to improve our abilities to communicate ideas and to persuade others. Because a free society will not exist unless a sufficient number of people believe in a free society, we must learn both theory and facts and attempt to convince others of the correctness of the freedom philosophy.”

This passage, written by Edward W. Younkins, seems to me to capture the motivation for the trilogy of books reviewed here, and much else that Younkins has written. The quoted passage is from the first of the books in the trilogy. The three books are:

Capitalism and Commerce: Conceptual Foundations of Free Enterprise, Lexington Books, 2002.

Champions of a Free Society: Ideas of Capitalism’s Philosophers and Economists, Lexington Books, 2008.

Flourishing and Happiness in a Free Society: Toward a Synthesis of Aristotelianism, Austrian Economics, and Ayn Rand’s Objectivism, University Press of America, 2011.

In what follows I review the contributions of each of the three books before assessing their combined contribution as a trilogy.

 

Capitalism and Commerce

Version 1.0.0

Several reviewers commented that this book was a welcome antidote to the business and capitalism bashing that was common when it was published. Since I fully concur with Tibor Machan’s view about the contribution of the book, I will quote him verbatim. After noting that “capitalism and commerce aren’t very popular with most intellectuals and academics,” Machan writes:

“One cannot dispute the generalization that the bulk of textbook authors and writers of scholarly works, not to mention college and university teachers in the field of business ethics, are mainly business bashers.

“One harmful result of this sorry situation is that over the last several decades—during which college students have increasingly taken courses in business ethics—the topic has been taught mostly by those who are hostile to both capitalism and commerce. The major journals in the field are filled with critiques of all aspects of free-market capitalism and the kinds of commerce it makes possible.

“This work is rare, then, for placing on the record a straightforward, accessible explanation of the nature of capitalism and the moral and conceptual foundations in support of the commerce that takes place in such a system. The book is eminently suitable for use in an introductory or intermediate course on business and society, business ethics, or the philosophy of economics.”

Those comments are even more pertinent today, given the ongoing growth of hostility to capitalism over the last 20 years. I consider that the book is also eminently suitable reading for any business executives who need respite from the advocates of stakeholder capitalism.

Younkins defines capitalism as “that set of economic arrangements that could exist in a society in which the state’s only function would be to prevent one person from using force or fraud against another person.” He offers this as an “ideal for which we should strive.” He argues that capitalism is the economic and political system that is most able to make personal flourishing possible because it is the system in which an individual’s rights to life, liberty and property are protected by law.

The scope of this book is extraordinarily broad. The introduction, which discusses capitalism and morality, is followed by Part I: “Individuals, Communities and the State”; Part II: “Ownership”; Part III: “Progress”; Part IV: “Governance”; Part V: “Obstacles to a Free Society”; and Part VI: “In Retrospect and Prospect,” The 29 chapters cover just about every topic I can think of relating to individual freedom, economic activity and human flourishing. The only economic policy issue that I can think of that has not been allocated a chapter is the extent to which governments should impose restrictions on movement of people across international borders.

If I had to select just one chapter with a message that should be widely disseminated it would be Chapter 4, “The Common Good.” In this chapter Younkins exposes errors associated with collectivist views of the common good and asserts that the common good must be that which is good for every human being.

Another important contribution that this book makes is to point out the adverse impact that Immanuel Kant’s ethical teachings have had on the views that many people now hold of what activities have moral worth. Kant taught that if a person acts to obtain personal benefits, the act has no moral worth. Younkins notes that by removing prudence from the province of morality, Kant cast doubt on the moral worth of business activities motivated by profit-making and even charitable activities motivated by the pleasure of helping others.

A question in my mind as I recently re-read parts of this book is how well it has stood the test of time. Over the last 20 years the business environment has been affected by a range of different factors including a global financial crisis, the Occupy Wall Street movement, the emergence of “woke” corporate capitalism, and regulatory responses to the Covid pandemic.

Nearly all the views expressed in the book remain as relevant now as when the book was written.

Despite all that, nearly all the views expressed in the book remain as relevant now as when the book was written. With the benefit of hindsight, I think the author (in common with me and many others) was too optimistic about the potential for technological advances to free people from centralized control and to give them greater power over their own lives. The thought also crossed my mind that the discussion of corporations might need updating to discuss “stakeholder capitalism.” However, even though that phrase doesn’t appear in the book, the author provides an excellent discussion of stakeholder theory, pointing out that it is a flawed ethical theory. Younkins makes the important point that true corporate responsibility requires respect for the natural rights of individuals.

 

Champions of a Free Society

I decided to read this book a few weeks ago when I discovered that it has more to offer than potted summaries of the views of philosophers and economists who have made important contributions to classical liberal and libertarian thinking. Students who are looking for such summaries will find them in this book, but they will also find more extensive discussions of philosophical positions that the author considers to be true and good.

Ed Younkins makes no secret of the fact that his own predispositions have influenced his judgements as to what thinkers to include in the book. Those predispositions are fully exposed in the final chapter, in which the author seeks to develop a reality-based paradigm for a free society.

The book devotes chapters to Lao Tzu, Aristotle, Epicurus, Aquinas, Spinoza, John Locke, A. R. J. Turgot, Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, Herbert Spencer, Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, James Buchanan, Robert Nozick, Thomas Sowell, and Michael Novak. Anyone who had previously read Capitalism and Commerce would have no difficulty predicting that the author would not regard Immanuel Kant as a champion of a free society. By the time they reach the end of this book, readers will probably not see any need to ask why no chapters are devoted to discussing David Hume, or Karl Popper. As for John Stuart Mill, I can only speculate that the author considered that Mill’s views were too muddled for him to be even mentioned.

The author’s admiration for Aristotle is apparent in the two chapters devoted to him. I agree with Younkins that Aristotle was “the most significant thinker” who has ever lived. In my view, Aristotle deserves such high praise for his metaphysics and views on human flourishing.

Younkins has included a chapter discussing Aristotle’s economics, in which he claims that Aristotle was “one of the great thinkers in the history of economic thought.” He makes a strong case that Aristotle had some insights that had a positive influence on the subsequent development of economics, but it seems to me that Aristotle’s negative view of profit-making, opposition to money-lending, and limited understanding of the role of market exchange should count heavily against him in any assessment of his contribution to economic thought.

The author also pins his colours to the mast by including praise for the philosophy of Ayn Rand in one of his chapters discussing Aristotle, as well as in the chapter devoted to Rand’s views. Younkins presents a persuasive case that the philosophy of Ayn Rand should be taken seriously and treated with respect.

The only chapter I have difficulty with is the one devoted to Friedrich Hayek. Unfortunately, some aspects of Hayek’s writings are not sufficiently clear to avoid a range of different interpretations. Younkins acknowledges Hayek’s recognition that each individual possesses specialized and local knowledge that contribute to overall social order. That seems to be at odds with his suggestion that Hayek “sanctions a type of spontaneous order that implies the unimportance and inadequacy of individual rationality.” Hayek stated: “Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions and will receive praise or blame for them.” (Hayek, 1960, 71) He identified the “essential features” of true individualism to be “respect for the individual man qua man, that is recognition of his own views and tastes as supreme in his own sphere” and “the belief that it is desirable that men should develop their own individual gifts and bents.” (Hayek, 1944, 17)

Nevertheless, I am unable to defend some of Hayek’s arguments about the limitations of human rationality. For example, in Constitution of Liberty he claims that “submission to rules and conventions we largely do not understand . . . is indispensable for the working of a free society.” (Hayek, 1960, 63) In my view, most people are capable of understanding the purposes served by the rules of just conduct (or metanorms) protecting lives, liberty and property. It makes more sense to explain those purposes than to suggest that reverence for tradition should be sufficient reason for compliance.

Despite Younkins’s criticisms of Hayek, the book contains evidence that he respects some of Hayek’s views. A quote from Hayek is placed prominently at the top of the Preface. Moreover, the final chapter, in which the author outlines desirable characteristics of a paradigm for a free society, contains a passage, with a distinct Hayekian flavour, discussing the role of prices as transmitters of knowledge.

Younkins ends the book by suggesting that to create a paradigm for a free society “it may be desirable to refine and fuse together” a range of components. Unfortunately, his summary of proposed components would be unintelligible to many readers if reproduced out of context. As I see it, the summary encompasses the following propositions:

  1. Objective reality exists independent of the consciousness of humans. The content of natural law derives from the nature of man and the world and is accessible to human reason.
  2. Natural rights protecting individual flourishing are compatible with natural law.
  3. Humans develop concepts using cognitive processes which enable them to understand the evidence of their senses.
  4. Values can be seen to be related to the biological needs of humans if a biocentric view of values is adopted. (Younkins notes that Carl Menger and Ayn Rand adopt a biocentric view of values.)
  5. The observation that individuals make purposive choices provides the basis for an understanding of how voluntary transactions, including profit-motivated market transactions, contribute to human flourishing.
  6. The extent to which individuals can flourish depends largely upon their ability to exercise free will, reason, and to take virtuous actions in pursuit of ends that they value.

 

Flourishing and Happiness in a Free Society

This book begins where Champions of a Free Society ends. Younkins’s goal is “illustrating the potential of integrating essential features found in Aristotle’s works, Austrian Economics, Objectivism, and the writings of contemporary neo-Aristotelians into a broad natural law and natural-rights-based analytic and normative science of individual liberty.” He explains the end goal of his proposed “neo-Aristotelian classical liberal synthesis” as follows:

“Our goal is to develop a paradigm or system in which the views of reality, knowledge, human nature, flourishing, happiness, virtues, values, society, and so on make up an integrated whole.”

Younkins identifies the main factors which might appear to prevent integration of Austrian Economics with Ayn Rand’s Objectivism as the Kantian epistemological basis for the Misesian action axiom and apparent disagreement on the question of whether values are subjective or objective. The author has no difficulty in demonstrating that neither of those factors prevent integration.

The action axiom, that each individual acts purposefully, provides the foundation on which Ludwig von Mises was able to derive a body of logically deduced, inexorable, laws of economics. Following Murray Rothbard, Younkins argues that the action axiom is self-evidently true because it is derived from the experience of reality early in a person’s life.

With regard to values, Younkins suggests that the different views of Austrian Economics and Objectivism arise because of the different perspectives from which they consider human action:

“On the one hand, the Austrian emphasis is on the value neutrality of the economist as a scientific observer of a person acting to obtain his ‘subjective’ (i.e. personally estimated) values. On the other hand, the philosophy of Objectivism is concerned with values for an acting individual moral agent himself.”

The discussion of Austrian Economics, Objectivism, and Post-Randian neo-Aristotelianism in the Introduction and Chapter 1 provides background for the discussion of human nature, flourishing and happiness in Chapter 2. The author’s definition of happiness will give readers an inkling of the main messages in that chapter:

“Happiness can be defined as the positive conscious and emotional experience that accompanies or follows from attaining one’s values and goals and exercising one’s individual potentialities, including talents, abilities, and virtues.”

Younkins suggests that it is likely that the perspective that each individual has regarding the core of their existence has more to do with their level of happiness than do any external circumstances. I agree.

This chapter emphasizes the central importance of freely chosen actions as a determinant of individual flourishing and happiness. The author notes that while human nature sets the general parameters of human flourishing, the form of flourishing that is most desirable for any person necessitates consideration of what is unique and contextual for that individual.

Chapter 4 sketches a paradigm for human flourishing in a free society. It does this by presenting a big picture of the nature of man and the world, natural law, the individualized nature of human flourishing, and the importance of political and social conditions recognizing natural rights in enabling individuals to flourish by exercising self-direction. The latter part of the chapter draws heavily on the philosophical insights of Douglas Rasmussen and Douglas Den Uyl.

After summarizing the philosophical discussion of earlier chapters, the author notes in the concluding chapter that there has been a growing tendency for government to undermine the personal freedom and responsibility necessary for individuals to flourish. He then asks:

“How do we go from our current interventionist political and economic system to a society of laissez-faire capitalism?”

The answer that Younkins provides is that many “intermediate, transitional, and incremental steps” are likely to be necessary to take us there. He also suggests to readers that if we are to attain our goal “we must get influential people to change their ideas.”

Younkins emphasizes the role of well-constructed and engaging works of fiction in spreading our message to the world. He notes that Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is an excellent means to promulgate the conceptual and moral foundations of a free society and suggests that it should be extensively studied in institutions of higher learning. He also mentions several other novels, and some movies, which present a positive image of capitalism. However, he notes that more such works are needed to illustrate the value of free enterprise, innovation, and personal initiative.

 

The Trilogy

There is a natural progression in this series of books. The first book explains the nature of capitalism and its links to a free society. The second book explains how the ideas of certain philosophers and economists have supported capitalism and a free society and opens up the question of how it might be possible to integrate the best contributions of the champions of liberty to create a paradigm for a free society. The third book advances toward development of a paradigm of human flourishing in a free society.

There is a natural progression in this series of books.

The first two books in the series are easy to read but the third would be somewhat more difficult for a reader who has no prior knowledge of Austrian Economics or Objectivism. Readers without such prior knowledge might find it helpful to read chapters of Champions of a Free Society relating to Aristotle, Menger, Mises and Rand before reading Flourishing and Happiness in a Free Society.

The author definitely makes original scholarly contributions in the third book of the series.

The author definitely makes original scholarly contributions in the third book of the series. He makes no claim to originality in respect of the major ideas presented in the first book, and is similarly modest in respect of ideas in the second book.

In my view, Younkins has made notable achievements in writing a trilogy of books that can help newcomers to the philosophy of freedom understand the major contributions of Aristotle, Ayn Rand, and some prominent members of the Austrian school of economics. He has also made a significant contribution of his own in demonstrating that Austrian economics is compatible with Objectivism. That message seems to me to have been particularly important in the context of encouraging proponents of a free society to be nonparochial in their efforts to spread the freedom philosophy.

Those who are familiar with more recent writings by Ed Younkins will know that his efforts to understand and promote the philosophy and practice of freedom did not end with publication of the third book of this trilogy in 2011. Hopefully, Ed will decide that recent advances in neo-Aristotelian philosophy, Austrian economics and psychology provide him with sufficiently interesting opportunities to become the author of a tetralogy.

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References:

Hayek, F. A. 1944, The Road to Serfdom, The University of Chicago Press.

Hayek, F. A. 1960, The Constitution of Liberty, The University of Chicago Press.

Machan, Tibor R. 2004, “Review of Capitalism and Commerce,” The Freeman, March edition.

Rasmussen, Douglas B., and Den Uyl, 2005, Douglas J, Norms of Liberty, Pennsylvania State University Press.

 

 

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