Hoppe: A Précis

Someone asked me a question about differences between Hoppe and Rothbard, and the extent of Hoppe’s contributions beyond Rothbard. His email:

“In what material ways do the respective philosophies of Rothbard and Hoppe differ?

In fact, there are really two questions buried in there.

First, are there any disagreements between their views?

Second, in what ways has Hoppe advanced things over where Rothbard left off? Through your work I am aware of Hoppe’s development of argumentation ethics, which I believe Rothbard applauded as an advancement on his natural rights theory. Are there any other key Hoppean developments?”

My reply:

That’s a deep/big topic. Perhaps you can get some hints as to the answer, by reading Hoppe’s introduction to The Ethics of Liberty, to get a sense of how Hoppe characterizes Rotbhard’s achievements; and then, read my Foreword and Afterword to the Laissez Faire editions of Theory of Socialism and Capitalism and The Great Fiction, where I summarize/mention some of his achievements. Also see the introduction Guido and I wrote to his festschrift, which is also on my site. [https://stephankinsella.com/…/foreword-to-hoppe-a-theor…/ , https://stephankinsella.com/…/huelsmann-kinsella_introdu…, https://stephankinsella.com/…/afterword-to-hoppes-the-g…/, http://www.hanshoppe.com/…/murray-n-rothbard-and-the-ethic…/ ]

But off the top of my head:

In addition to the argumentation ethics contribution you noted [see Rothbard’s comments about it here https://mises.org/…/argumentation-ethics-and-liberty-concis…] ,

Hoppe is more of a neo-Kantian, and more of a Misesian, and a deeper praxeologist, than Rothbard.
And I can think of topics he worked on that went beyond what Rothbard did:
–epistemology/method (in his Economic Science and the Austrian Method), and related work on the future, uncertainty, etc., in various papers (e.g. his work on certainty/the future, also his review of McCloskey, and his comments on legislation and crime etc. arising from uncertainty in his piece on uncertainty)
–his views on indifference theory
–his views on democracy, and on monarchy, including his revisionist approach to the US Constitution as centralizing, and his revisionist approach to the US role in WWI and the causes of WWII
–his views on immigration as forced integration
–his views on insurance and various systems that we can expect to arise in a stateless society
–his views on problems with public goods theory
–his explanation of the problem with antitrust law
–his analysis of the differences between E and W Germany and issues related to reunification
–his careful analysis of different types of socialism in the first few chapters of TSC
–his own approach to the Hayek/Mises dehomogenization debate and his critique of the Hayekian approach to knowledge
–his own approach to problems with fractional-reserve banking
–his completely correct approach to IP, unlike Rothbard’s confused and flawed approach

Off the top of my head.

Best, Stephan

“Foreword,” to Hoppe, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism

Below is my Introduction to Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (Laissez Faire Books, 2013). Earlier editions of the book may be found h

STEPHANKINSELLA.COM