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David Gordon (born 1948) is an American libertarian philosopher and intellectual historian influenced by Rothbardian views of economics. He is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and editor of The Mises Review. Gordon received degrees from University of California Los Angeles, including a Doctorate in intellectual history. He has contributed to scholarly publications such as Analysis, International Philosophical Quarterly, The Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Social Philosophy and Policy and Econ Journal Watch. He also has been published in the The Orange County Register, The American Conservative and The Freeman.

Gordon’s 1991 book Resurrecting Marx: The Analytical Marxists on Freedom, Exploitation, and Justice was described by Mises Institute scholar Yuri N. Matsev as "a refutation of neo-Marxist attempts to save the system from itself." The book, which answers the arguments of Marxist political philosophers, including Gerald Cohen, was reviewed in the American Political Science Review and the "Journal of Communist Studies."

Gordon's book The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics, which explores the philosophical origins of Carl Menger’s economic theories, was highly praised by Murray Rothbard. Gordon later wrote "Second thoughts on The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics" to provide some additions and corrections.

Gordon edited Secession, State & Liberty, a collection of eleven essays which make the case that secession should be given serious consideration. The essays examine American history, look at theoretical issues and apply theory to the modern world.

Murray Rothbard described Gordon as a friend and "Mr. Erudition." In Hans-Hermann Hoppe's The Myth of National Defense, Luigi Marco Bassani and Carlo Lottieri described him as the "semiofficial reviewer of the libertarian community." Brian Doherty, in his Radicals for Capitalism, writes that Gordon is "the only man around who knows as much as Rothbard did when it comes to the historical, philosophical and economic background of libertarianism." In an editorial The Orange Country Register described Gordon as a "polymath."

In 1985 Gordon worked with professor Walter Block on a law review article called "Extortion and the Exercise of Free Speech Rights" which explores contradictions and paradoxes in laws against blackmail and the conditions under which such laws are acceptable.

In 2011 Econ Journal Watch published an article Gordon wrote with Swedish consultant Per Nilsson called "The Ideological Profile of Harvard University Press: Categorizing 494 Books Published 2000–2010." They presented a spread sheet analysis of the books, some of which they had not read, and concluded the Harvard press’s political slant’s problem "is not that it is ideological, but that its ideology is predominately leftist." A reviewer noted that one author did not consider his book "leftist" and that the reason other books were so characterized was not clear.

Books

• Resurrecting Marx: The Analytical Marxists on Freedom, Exploitation, and Justice. Transaction Publishers. 1991. ISBN 0-88738-390-4.
• Editor, with Jeremey Shearmur. H. B. Acton's The Morals of Markets and Related Essays, 2nd edition (April 1, 1993). Liberty Fund, Inc, 1993. ISBN 978-0-86597-106-6
• The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics. Ludwig von Mises Institute. 1996. ISBN 0-945466-14-5.
• An Introduction to Economic Reasoning (ebook version) (PDF). Ludwig von Mises Institute. 2000. ISBN 0-945466-28-5.
• Editor, Secession, State & Liberty. Transaction Publishers. 2002. ISBN 0-7658-0943-5.
• The Essential Rothbard. Ludwig von Mises Institute. 2007. ISBN 1-933550-10-4.

References

1. ^ G. Therborn in Reconstrucing Marxism, Contemporary Sociology, 1992 calls Gordon a "libertarian philosopher."
2. Peter J. Boettke in his review of Resurrecting Marx, Reason Foundation "Reason Papers," Issue No. 19, Fall 1994, describes Gordon as "a philosopher and intellectual historian who is deeply influenced by the Rothbardinan strand of economics."
3. ^ David Gordon biography at Ludwig von Mises Institute web site.
4. David Gordon Literature Archive, Ludwig von Mises Institute listing.
5. David Gordon, "Marxism, Dictatorship, and the Abolition of Rights", Social Philosophy and Policy (1986), 3: 145–159, Cambridge University Press.
6. ^ David Gordon with Per Nilsson, The Ideological Profile of Harvard University Press: Categorizing 494 Books Published 2000–2010, Econ Journal Watch, Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2011
7. ^ "A liberty round table: Libertarian think tank brings its bracing philosophy to Costa Mesa", The Orange County Register, May 10, 2006.
8. Going Off the Rawls; Libertarians have adopted the Left’s favorite modern philosopher, The American Conservative, July 28, 2008 Issue.
9. David Gordon, "Murray Rothbard's Philosophy of Freedom", The Freeman, Foundation for Economic Education, November 2007, Volume: 57, Issue: 9.
10. Yuri N. Matsev, Requiem for Marx, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1993, p 29, ISBN 978-1-61016-116-9
11. David Boaz, The Libertarian Reader, Simon & Schuster, 1998, p 447.
12. David Leopold, Marc Stears, Political Theory: methods and approaches, Oxford University Press, 2008, p 121, ISBN 978-0-19-923009-9
13. Review of David Gordon’s Resurrecting Marx, American Political Science Review, Volume 86, Issue 1, Page 1 – Issue 2, Page 510
14. Review of David Gordon’s Resurrecting Marx, Journal of Communist Studies, Volume 9, Issues 1–2, p 141.
15. Barry Smith The philosophy of Austrian economics, Review of David Gordon’s The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics, The Review of Austrian Economics, Volume 7, Number 2, 127–132, doi:10.1007/BF01101946
16. Murray Rothbard, The Present State of Austrian Economics, paper delivered October 9, 1992; reprinted in The Logic of Action One: Method, Money, and the Austrian School, Glos, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 1997, pp. 111–172. Rothbard writes: "For a brilliant and incisive discussion and demolition of the logical empiricist contention on many levels, see David Gordon, The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics."
17. David Gordon, Second thoughts on The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics , The Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 7, No. 2.
18. George C. Leef, A Feast of Challenges to the Conventional Wisdom, a review of Secession, State & Liberty, Freeman On Line, 1998.
19. Murray N. Rothbard, "Mr. Bush’s shooting war," February, 1991, published in Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Editor, The Irrepressible Rothbard: The Rothbard-Rockwell Report Essays of Murray N. Rothbard, Center for Libertarian Studies, 2000, ISBN 978-1-883959-02-9
20. Hans-Hermann Hoppe, The myth of national defense, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2003, p 22, ISBN 978-0-945466-37-6
21. Murray Rothbard, Strictly Confidential: The Private Volker Fund Memos of Murray N. Rothbard, Publisher Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2010, p. x, in foreword by Brian Doherty, ISBN 978-1-933550-80-0
22. J Feinberg, The paradox of blackmail, Ratio Juris, 1988, Wiley Online Library.
23. Walter Block and David Gordon, "Extortion and the Exercise of Free Speech Rights: A Reply to Professors Posner, Epstein, Nozick and Lindgren," Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, 19, no. 1, November 1985, pp. 37–54.
24. Nina Ayoub, Harvard Press Leans Left, Economists Say, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 25, 2011.
25. Description of Gordon’s The Essential Rothbard written with access to Rothbard's private correspondence.

External links

• David Gordon archives at LewRockwell.com
• Mises Faculty Spotlight: Interview with David Gordon

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• American philosophers
• American libertarians
• Living people
• 20th-century philosophers
• 21st-century philosophers
• 1948 births
• University of California, Los Angeles alumni
• American economists
• Economic historians
• Intellectual historians