Defenders of Capitalism

with Eric Daniels

9 hours total | 6 sessions, beginning October 14, 2024

How can we create a world of immense wealth and prosperity? A world where individuals are fully free to produce and trade, and to pursue happiness as they see fit? A world unrestricted by the chains of authoritarianism and dictatorship? In short: a world of human flourishing?

By advancing capitalism.

And the best way to do that is by understanding exactly what capitalism is, which ideas support it, and which ones undermine it.

In this course, Eric Daniels, assistant director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism, will present key ideas and arguments of the best pro-capitalist thinkers—illuminating their strengths and weaknesses, and showing how you can employ the most effective principles to make a compelling case for free minds and free markets.

You’ll learn:

• Adam Smith’s revolutionary views on free markets, individual liberty, and the role of government
• Frédéric Bastiat’s defense of free society as well as his groundbreaking ideas on unintended consequences, the harmony of men’s interests, and the nature of justice
• John Stuart Mill’s case for liberty, including his popular but dangerously vague “harm principle” and his view of how society can best protect liberty.
• F. A. Hayek’s theories of spontaneous order and cultural evolution, how these can help us understand and improve social harmony, and how he defines coercion and argues against it
• Milton Friedman’s arguments for political and economic freedom, his utilitarian conception of value, and his theory of government
• Ayn Rand’s grounding of capitalism in ethics and reason, and how she conceives of and integrates moral and economic value.

Come deepen and refine your understanding of capitalism, become a more powerful advocate of freedom, and fight more effectively for a future of flourishing.

Guest Instructor