Freedom Circle
240x320 JPEG, color - Provided by Professor Machan
Professor of philosophy and business ethics, co-founder of Reason magazine
Tibor Richard Machan (18 March 1939 – 24 March 2016) was a Hungarian-American philosopher. A professor emeritus in the department of philosophy at Auburn University, Machan held the R. C. Hoiles Chair of Business Ethics and Free Enterprise at the Argyros School of Business & Economics at Chapman University in Orange, California until 31 December 2014.
Images
Freedom Circle
284x378 JPEG, color - Provided by Professor Machan
284x378 JPEG, color - Provided by Professor Machan
TheAdvocates.org - Tibor Machan
200x307 JPEG, color
200x307 JPEG, color
Died
24 Mar 2016, in Silverado Canyon, California
Biography
Laissez Faire Books
Machan (b. 1939) is a leading philosopher of individualism. For more than three decades, he has fought the good fight in the academic world. Smuggled out of Hungary in 1953, he earned his B.A. at Claremont McKenna College, his M.A. at New York University and Ph.D. at the University of California at Santa Barbara. All degrees in philosophy. He certainly is industrious. Influenced by Ayn Rand, he was among the original partners in Reason magazine which he edited for two years, and he edited Reason Papers.
Associations
Advocates for Self-Government, Board of Advisors
Cato Institute, Adjunct Scholar
Independent Institute, Research Fellow
Reason Foundation, Co-founder
Web Pages
Advocates for Self-Government - Libertarian Education: Tibor Machan - Libertarian
Includes picture and biography (from Laissez Faire Books)
Includes picture and biography (from Laissez Faire Books)
He wrote The Pseudo-Science of B.F. Skinner (1974), Human Rights and Human Liberties (1975), The Freedom Philosophy (1987), Marxism: A Bourgeois Critique (1988), The Moral Case for the Free Market Economy: A Philosophical Argument (1988), Individuals and Their Rights (1989), Liberty and Culture: Essays on the Idea of a Free Society (1989), Capitalism and Individualism: Reforming the Argument for the Free Society (1990), The Virtue of Liberty (1994), Private Rights and Public Illusions (1995), A Primer on Ethics (1997), Generosity: Virtue in Civil Society (1998), Classical Individualism (1999), and Initiative: Human Agency and Society (2000).
Tibor R. Machan | Hoover Institution
Includes picture, biography, areas of expertise and links to commentary (up to July 2010)
Includes picture, biography, areas of expertise and links to commentary (up to July 2010)
Tibor R. Machan was a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. ... He lectures regularly on political philosophy and business ethics ... He has contributed to numerous scholarly journals, including American Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophy of Science, International Journal of Social Economics, and others. ... Machan was a guest on Firing Line and numerous other interview programs. He cohosted, with the late Sidney Hook, the television program For the Love of Work, on the ideas of Karl Marx. He was featured on C-Span 2's three-hour In Depth book program on May 1, 2011.
Archived Columns
Tibor R. Machan - Orange County Register
Columns up to Jan 2012
Columns up to Jan 2012
Archived Articles
Strike The Root: A Journal of Liberty
From Sep 2003 to Apr 2004
From Sep 2003 to Apr 2004
Tibor R. Machan | Mises Institute
From 1998 to Jan 2011
From 1998 to Jan 2011
Blog
Tibor's space
Posts from Jan 2008 to Aug 2015
Posts from Jan 2008 to Aug 2015
Articles
40 Years of Free Minds and Free Markets, by Brian Doherty, Reason, Dec 2008
The history of Reason magazine as related to Doherty by Reason Enterprises founders, editors and other staffers
The history of Reason magazine as related to Doherty by Reason Enterprises founders, editors and other staffers
Tibor Machan: Lanny Friedlander requested that he might reprint an article of mine from [the academic philosophy journal] The Personalist. Later on he wanted to print something else I wrote, something on a fairly technical philosophical issue, the nature of the a priori. So Bob Poole became aware of me. And then I got a call from Manny Klausner, who discovered me on KPFK [the Pacifica Radio affiliate in Los Angeles], where I had a 15-minute show every week in the late '60s. So then the idea of taking reason a step further than it was in Friedlander's care came up ...
Related Topics: Nick Gillespie, Manny Klausner, Robert W. Poole, Jr., Virginia Postrel, Reason, Jacob Sullum
Ayn Rand & Objectivism - Tibor Machan, The Daily Objectivist
Review of Machan's Ayn Rand
Review of Machan's Ayn Rand
Philosophical hero Tibor R. Machan has championed the cause of reason and freedom for decades. A founder and early editor of Reason magazine, he also is the editor of Reason Papers and author of hundreds of cutting-edge articles and books. Nobody is better qualified than Machan to author Ayn Rand, a concise yet comprehensive introduction to Rand's ideas. Machan knew Rand personally, if briefly; he was 'cast adrift' very early on. But Machan's interest in Rand's ideas and work has remained strong. His book demonstrates a deep sympathy and understanding of her project, as well as a completely independent perspective.
Related Topic: Ayn Rand
Bob Poole Remembers Tibor Machan, A Fellow Founding Co-Editor of Reason Magazine, by Robert W. Poole, Jr., 25 Mar 2016
Memorial essay, highlighting Machan's life, his involvement with Reason and the Reason Foundation, and some of his writings
Memorial essay, highlighting Machan's life, his involvement with Reason and the Reason Foundation, and some of his writings
Tibor was born in Budapest in 1939. He was such an individualist, that he already loathed Communism as a young teenager. For his own safety, his mother decided to have him smuggled out of Hungary at age 14. He made his way to the United States, and joined the Air Force rather than waiting to be drafted into the Army. There he discovered the novels of Ayn Rand, which led him to attend college at Claremont McKenna College, graduate school at NYU, and obtain a PhD in philosophy at UC Santa Barbara in 1971 ... Tibor and I became friends, and during 1970 brainstormed the idea of buying Reason ...
Libertarianism: The Moral and the Practical, by Sheldon Richman, Future of Freedom, May 2014
Explores whether libertarian policies should distinguish between moral and practical concerns; revised version of "The Goal Is Freedom" column of 27 Dec 2013
Explores whether libertarian policies should distinguish between moral and practical concerns; revised version of "The Goal Is Freedom" column of 27 Dec 2013
Tibor Machan and David Brown wrote, in "The Self-Imposed Poverty of Economics,"
[Adam] Smith saw that when morality, or ethics, is conceived along lines that would be fully realized in the work of Immanuel Kant ... moral thinking cannot embrace the virtue of prudence, or practical wisdom ... But prudence ... would make plenty of room for an ethical conception of most economic activity ... With prudence expelled from the moral realm, however, all the economists can do to render commerce and business respectable is to collapse them ... into expressions of near-bodily functions à la Hobbes ...
Related Topics: Aristotle, Ethics, Henry Hazlitt, Libertarianism, Roderick T. Long, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
The Moral Case for Freedom Is the Practical Case for Freedom, by Sheldon Richman, The Goal Is Freedom, 27 Dec 2013
Considers whether it is reasonable to draw distinctions between moral and practical arguments for freedom
Considers whether it is reasonable to draw distinctions between moral and practical arguments for freedom
In commenting on this passage [from The Wealth of Nations], Tibor Machan and David Brown wrote, in "The Self-Imposed Poverty of Economics,"
Smith saw that when morality, or ethics, is conceived along lines that would be fully realized in the work of Immanuel Kant—who denied that anything done to advance one's own cause can have moral significance—moral thinking cannot embrace the virtue of prudence, or practical wisdom. (Nor can any moral virtue be construed or justified, however broadly, in relation to the acting agent’s own well-being and flourishing.) ...
Tibor Machan, a Founding Editor of Reason, RIP, by Nick Gillespie, 25 Mar 2016
Memorial tribute, describing Machan's involvement with Reason through the years, includes two videos, one of Machan discussing Ayn Rand and another in a panel with his co-founders and a former editor
Memorial tribute, describing Machan's involvement with Reason through the years, includes two videos, one of Machan discussing Ayn Rand and another in a panel with his co-founders and a former editor
Tibor's impact and influence on the growth and development of Reason can't be overstated. Especially in those early years, he brought not just a rigorous philosophical mind-set to our pages but, as a refugee from communist Hungary, a personal fire for individual liberty and a free society that energized all our efforts. Tibor was also a longtime columnist and consultant to Freedom Communications and the author and editor of dozens of books on topics including Ayn Rand's Objectivism, what he called "the pseudo-science of B.F. Skinner" and other behaviorist psychologists, ... and much more.
Related Topic: Reason
Tibor Machan - Hero of the Day, The Daily Objectivist, 2000
Biographical profile published by The Daily Objectivist; lists some of Machan's many works, how he discovered Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden but was later "blackballed"
Biographical profile published by The Daily Objectivist; lists some of Machan's many works, how he discovered Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden but was later "blackballed"
Like many another great American champion of liberty, Tibor Machan was born abroad. He was smuggled out of Hungary in 1953 and immigrated to the United States from Germany a few years later. ... 'I became aware of Ayn Rand when I was a young man in the U.S. Air Force,' says Tibor. 'I read her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. The former inspired me, the latter provoked a good deal of reflection. Several of us stayed up into many weekend nights at Andrews Air Force Base, in the summer of 1962, examining the philosophical themes covered in Galt's famous speech. ...'
Writings
Boxer's Confusion about Ownership, 4 May 2007
Explains the absurdity of California Senator Barbara Boxer's statement that public lands are "owned ... by the American people" by recalling a story about Ludwig Wittgenstein
Explains the absurdity of California Senator Barbara Boxer's statement that public lands are "owned ... by the American people" by recalling a story about Ludwig Wittgenstein
California Senator Barbara Boxer sent around a letter to the editor that was published in The OC Register on April 30th, hoping to clarify 'my[!] California Wild Heritage Act.' 'She states in this letter that the approximately 2.3 million acres included in the bill are all publicly owned lands ...' ... The idea that some kind of fair general, universal use can be made of public lands is a myth, one identified by, among others, Thucydides. As he observed, when people own things in common, 'each fancies that no harm will come to his neglect, that it is the business of somebody else to look after this or that for him ...'
On gouging, Rational Review, 8 Sep 2004
Discusses various sides of the issue of gouging, from generosity, to economic justification and being well-prepared or not, due to other life challenges, concluding with advice for politicians and bureaucrats
Discusses various sides of the issue of gouging, from generosity, to economic justification and being well-prepared or not, due to other life challenges, concluding with advice for politicians and bureaucrats
During most emergencies there are those who could certainly use quite a bit of help and it is on such occasions that complaints about gouging surface most vociferously. The recent tropical storms and hurricanes in the Southeast saw many people having to board up their homes and businesses and evacuate the area for safer regions. ... The bottom line is that these are matters of human choice and there is no universal principle to guide us all to a one-size-fits-all policy. Discretion and good judgment are what are needed, certainly not some politicians and bureaucrats rushing in where even fools dare not tread.
Related Topic: Prices
Some reflections on Georgism, Rational Review, 29 Jul 2004
Argues against the Henry George idea that since land was not made by any individual, nobody can claim ownership rights over it
Argues against the Henry George idea that since land was not made by any individual, nobody can claim ownership rights over it
n his famous book, Progress and Poverty, Henry George argues that there is at least one value that should not be privately owned. No one can claim the right to any land since no one has produced it. Land, therefore, must be viewed as belonging to everyone and individuals or groups ought to pay a fee-- the single tax -- for making use of it for their own purposes. ... There is a fallacy that one commits when one denies property rights in land and yet claims that all land was initially stolen. This is what Nathaniel Branden has dubbed the 'stolen concept fallacy.'
Why Markets Are Dreaded, 27 Apr 2007
Insights on why higher education professionals prefer not to have to compete in "markets" and instead want governments to run colleges and universities
Insights on why higher education professionals prefer not to have to compete in "markets" and instead want governments to run colleges and universities
In one of those vapid, in-house disputes often published in The New York Review of Books's letters-to-the-editor sections, we can read about a disagreement among educational experts under the heading "Scandals in Higher Education: An Exchange" ... If the discussion gets this far with one of these righteous defenders of their—unequal!—professional privilege, one soon hears about everyone's equal positive rights to whatever is of benefit to them in life. This is one widely hailed doctrine that's deployed when the enslavement of us all is advocated to justify keeping these erudite folks on the dole!
Reviews
Individuals and Their Rights by Tibor R. Machan, by David M. Brown, The Freeman, Jun 1990
Review of Tibor Machan's 1989 book Individuals and Their Rights
Review of Tibor Machan's 1989 book Individuals and Their Rights
In his new and very readable book on our natural rights, philosopher Tibor R. Machan has accepted a task that too many contemporary advocates of liberty regard as almost beside the point ... Machan defends his thesis ably against several contending theories, and is generally effective in doing so. He pays careful attention to what his colleagues are arguing and gives their theories their due before exposing their fallacies. My one gripe with his approach and with the entire book is his tendency to garnish perfectly plain and defensible contentions with unnecessary qualifications ...
Introduction to Philosophical Inquiries, by Lester Hunt, Reason, Sep 1977
Brief review of Tibor Machan's book Introduction to Philosophical Inquiries (1977)
Brief review of Tibor Machan's book Introduction to Philosophical Inquiries (1977)
[In the first chapter and the epilogue] we find that Machan's attitude toward philosophy is a rather peculiar one in today's context: he believes that philosophy is valuable practically, because it seeks the truth about matters of absolute importance ... Professor Machan does not regard philosophical theories merely as a series of "isms" that should be mastered as a part of one's liberal education. His primary aim is always to aid us in deciding, rationally, which positions are true. He carefully shows the plausibility of each one, as well as the difficulties each one inevitably encounters.
Related Topic: Philosophy
Interviews
Interview with Robert Poole, by Robert W. Poole, Jr., Karen Minto, William Minto, Full Context, May 1999
Topics discussed range from Poole's early influences, Ayn Rand, getting interested in policy analysis, the Goldwater campaign, the LP, Reason Foundation, the professionals who helped him the most and his passion for privatization
Topics discussed range from Poole's early influences, Ayn Rand, getting interested in policy analysis, the Goldwater campaign, the LP, Reason Foundation, the professionals who helped him the most and his passion for privatization
Poole: In early 1970 when I told Lanny I was moving to Santa Barbara, he told me I should look up Tibor Machan, who had also written for Reason and was getting his Ph.D. in philosophy at UCSB. So I did, and we became friends. The two of us dreamed up the idea of creating a part-time business to take over Reason, when it became evident that Lanny couldn't make a go of it. Manny Klausner heard Tibor talk about libertarian ideas on a KPFK radio program and called him up ...
[D]iscussions with [Tibor] over the years deepened my appreciation for Objectivism and for the power of ideas.
[D]iscussions with [Tibor] over the years deepened my appreciation for Objectivism and for the power of ideas.
Books Authored
Ayn Rand, 1 Mar 2000
Contents: Ayn Rand, Iconoclast - Intellectual Iconoclast - Rand on Axiomatic Concepts - Rand's Moral Philosophy - Rand's Rational Individualism - Rand versus Marx - Rand's Moriarty - Room for Work
Contents: Ayn Rand, Iconoclast - Intellectual Iconoclast - Rand on Axiomatic Concepts - Rand's Moral Philosophy - Rand's Rational Individualism - Rand versus Marx - Rand's Moriarty - Room for Work
Related Topic: Ayn Rand
- ISBN 0820441449: Paperback, Peter Lang, 2000
Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being, 1998
- ISBN 0415165725: Hardcover, Routledge, 1st edition, 1998
Generosity: Virtue in the Civil Society
by Tibor Machan, Cato Institute, 1998
Contents: Generosity, A Benevolent Virtue - Dimensions of Generosity: Private, Social, and Political - Institutional Generosity - Generosity via Government? - Blocked Exchanges
by Tibor Machan, Cato Institute, 1998
Contents: Generosity, A Benevolent Virtue - Dimensions of Generosity: Private, Social, and Political - Institutional Generosity - Generosity via Government? - Blocked Exchanges
- ISBN 1882577531: Hardcover, Cato Institute, 1998
- ISBN 188257754X: Paperback, Cato Institute, 1998
Individual Rights Reconsidered: Are the Truths of the U.S. Declaration of Independence Lasting?
by Tibor Machan (editor), 2001
by Tibor Machan (editor), 2001
Related Topic: United States Declaration of Independence
- ISBN 0817999329: Paperback, Hoover Institution Press, 2001
The Man Without a Hobby: Adventures of a Gregarious Egoist, 2004
Autobiographical
Autobiographical
- ISBN 0761829466: Paperback, Hamilton Books, 2004
The Passion for Liberty, Aug 2003
Partial contents: Opposing Senses of Freedom - Why Capitalism Squares with Morality - Immigration Into a Free Society - Military Defense of the Free Society - Liberty: Economic Versus Moral Benefits - Reflections On the Right to Private Property
Partial contents: Opposing Senses of Freedom - Why Capitalism Squares with Morality - Immigration Into a Free Society - Military Defense of the Free Society - Liberty: Economic Versus Moral Benefits - Reflections On the Right to Private Property
Related Topic: Liberty
- ISBN 0742531023: Hardcover, Rowman & Littlefield Pub, 2003
- ISBN 0742531031: Paperback, Rowman & Littlefield Pub, 2003
A Primer on Business Ethics
by Tibor Machan, James E. Chesher, 2003
Partial contents: Business Ethics—True and False - Capitalism - Self-Interest, Egoism, and Business - Employment Ethics - Advertising and Ethics - Capitalism and Racial Justice - Fundamental Environmentalism - Why Globalization Is Good
by Tibor Machan, James E. Chesher, 2003
Partial contents: Business Ethics—True and False - Capitalism - Self-Interest, Egoism, and Business - Employment Ethics - Advertising and Ethics - Capitalism and Racial Justice - Fundamental Environmentalism - Why Globalization Is Good
- ISBN 0742513882: Hardcover, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003
- ISBN 0742513890: Paperback, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003
Putting Humans First: Why We Are Nature's Favorite, 2004
Related Topic: Rights
- ISBN 074253345X: Hardcover, Rowman & Littlefield, 2004
The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tibor Machan" as of 29 May 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.