David Friedman is Professor Emeritus at the Santa Clara University School of Law. While he was trained as a physicist, David is best known for his work in economics, and particularly his defense of anarcho-capitalism, a political philosophy that advocates for a free-market system unhampered by government. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss some criticisms of current economic systems, the varieties of anarchism, David’s arguments for anarcho-capitalism, and one of his fascinating hobbies, anachronism.

David’s Website: http://www.daviddfriedman.com

David’s Substack: https://daviddfriedman.substack.com

The Machinery of Freedom: https://a.co/d/iKpTQYK

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:17 Introduction

02:55 Physics to Economics

09:35 What is Anarchism?

16:09 Is Government an Agency of Legitimized Coercion?

27:41 Could Anarchy Be More Efficient than Government?

37:52 What Are Moral Facts?

44:46 Was John Rawls a Quack?

48:44 What Are Moral Facts?

56:07 How Much Should We Trust the Government?

01:02:05 Can Governments Prevent Climate Change?

01:13:18 Could We Privatize Police?

01:30:11 Would Anarchy Lead to Wealth Inequality?

01:40:08 Will the United States Ever Become Anarchic?

01:46:26 Anachronism

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.