In 1981, preeminent American conservative political philosopher Harry Jaffa wrote an article entitled, “On the Necessity of a Scholarship of the Politics of Freedom.” In it, he bemoaned the fact that leftist thinking dominated the academic fields of history, political science, and the other social sciences. Deterministic theories like Marxism were prevalent. These theories deny mankind’s metaphysical freedom, and he added, “from the denial of man’s metaphysical freedom to the denial of any right to moral or political freedom, is but a short step.”.To counter leftist ideology in universities – “the scholarship of unfreedom” – Jaffa called for a new cohort of scholars to step forward in defence of Western civilization’s historic liberties: “there must be a scholarship of the politics of freedom, one that stands in as fundamental an opposition to the scholarship of unfreedom, as constitutional government stands in opposition to totalitarian tyranny.”.There is good reason to believe that leftist thinking dominates the fields of history and social science today as much as in 1981, if not more so. Therefore, “a scholarship of the politics of freedom” is needed now more than ever, if the Western world is to be delivered from the left’s statist agenda..Although freedom-oriented thinkers are relatively rare in the universities, there are some noteworthy exceptions. Despite the dominance of ideological progressivism, there are yet some conservative and libertarian political scientists, historians, economists, sociologists, and others in academia. .Although he died in 2015, Harry Jaffa himself was one of the most prominent conservative political scientists of the twentieth century. As a speechwriter for Senator Barry Goldwater – and Republican presidential nominee in 1964 – Jaffa wrote a famous line that got included in Goldwater’s convention speech of that year: “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” That statement is still discussed today..Generally speaking, freedom-oriented thinkers in the Anglosphere can be divided into conservatives and libertarians, then subdivided into particular kinds of conservatives and libertarians..Some libertarian academics were very prominent in the 1980s, with professors Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman likely being the best known. Hayek’s 1944 book, The Road to Serfdom, is a libertarian classic. Also notable are his 1960 book The Constitution of Liberty, and his three-volume set Law, Legislation and Liberty, published during the 1970s. The title of the second volume is especially interesting today – The Mirage of Social Justice. Milton Friedman is particularly known for his 1962 book, Capitalism and Freedom and the more popular 1980 work Free to Choose..Another significant libertarian is Julian Simon, a University of Maryland economist, who demonstrated in his ground-breaking 1981 book The Ultimate Resource – as well as in his subsequent work – that the single most important factor for economic progress is human ingenuity unleashed by individual liberty and free enterprise..There are a number of libertarian think tanks that produce academic-level research. The Fraser Institute would be the best-known in Canada. The United States has many more, including the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., and for more radical libertarians, the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama..There are well-known conservative think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, both based in Washington, D.C. And in 1979, four of Harry Jaffa’s students founded the Claremont Institute in California, which publishes one of the very best conservative periodicals in the English-speaking world, the Claremont Review of Books. .Also noteworthy is the Intercollegiate Studies Institute or ISI. Its purpose is to help college and university students learn and defend the principles that underlie Western civilization. It too, publishes helpful periodicals such as Modern Age as well as scholarly books..Even the much-maligned social conservatives have some academic champions. Likely the best-known would be Professor Robert P. George of Princeton University and Professor Hadley P. Arkes of Amherst College. Among George’s many books is his 2014 Conjugal Union: What Marriage Is and Why It Matters (co-authored with Patrick Lee) which is a defense of traditional – i.e., monogamous, heterosexual – marriage. Arkes’ 2002 book, Natural Rights and the Right to Choose, articulates the pro-life position on abortion. .In Canada, the “Calgary School” of intellectuals offers a conservative and libertarian perspective, and has been previously covered in the Western Standard..Despite the tidal wave of progressive ideology overrunning college and university campuses throughout North America, some beacons of the scholarship of the politics of freedom remain. Their books and periodicals are essential reading for conservative and libertarian university students, as well as for parents and grandparents whose children or grandchildren are attending a post-secondary institution. Having academic-level material that refutes leftist views helps students to scrutinize issues more thoroughly and thereby develop a genuine critical thinking capacity, which is a key component of higher education..Progressives like to talk about the need for “diversity,” but do students in the social sciences really get exposed to a diversity of intellectual opinion on controversial topics? They will if they encounter works by the scholars of freedom such as those mentioned above. .There is a desperate need for Harry Jaffa’s “scholarship of the politics of freedom,” but it will only be able to flourish if young conservatives and libertarians avail themselves of current conservative and libertarian scholarship and build upon it. Hopefully readers of the Western Standard will encourage promising young people to take up this vital challenge..Michael Wagner is a columnist for the Western Standard
