362: The Individual Against the State - A Conversation With Professor Crispin Sartwell

Crispin Sartwell is a a Professor at Dickinson College, a philosopher, individualist anarchist and journalist. His books include Against the State: An Introduction to Anarchist Political Theory (2008) and How to Escape: Magic, Madness, Beauty, and Cynicism (2014). He is well-known for his work deconstructing social contract theory and other justifications for the existence of the state.Why did I want to have Professor Sartwell on the show?1. It's always nice to chat with a renegade academic, and to provide a platform for venting2. Recent conversations with non-libertarians have me thinking about the "social contract"3. The 2016 election is coming and the political conversation is getting scarier Discussion Summary:-Libertarian philosophy as check against electoral politics and the continued expansion of the state-Why vote?-Professor Sartwell's philosophical challenge: bring forth a reasonable argument for the existence of the state-Social contract theory, Hobbs and Locke-David Hume and Utilitarian arguments for government-Democide, government in the 20th century: cased closed-Liberty from the bottom up-Collectivism skews reality-People are schooled into the state, as "mirrors of the bureaucracy"-Surviving and thriving in academiaLook Closer:Crispin Sartwell, Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispin_SartwellEye of the Storm, Crispin Startwell's blog - http://eyeofthestorm.blogs.com/The Left-Right Political Spectrum Is Bogus - http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/the-left-right-poli…Fight With Your Friends About Politics - http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/against-consensus/3…