One Volume Surveys of the CL Tradition

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When did theorists become self-conscious that they were advocating a unique, consistent and all-encompassing liberal worldview (Weltanschauung) which could be articulated in one volume; that their ideas were interconnected, were based upon a well thought out set of fundamental principles, and resulted in a comprehensive set of proposals for liberal reform?

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Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835)

BenjaminConstant

Benjamin Constant (1767-1830)

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Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912)

My summary list:

  • Wilhelm von Humboldt, deen zu einem Versuch, die Gränzen der Wirksamkeit des Staates zu bestimmen (The Limits of State Action) (1792, 1851)
  • Benjamin Constant, Principes de politique, applicables à tous les gouvernemens représentatifs (The Principles of Politics) (1815)
  • Gustave de Molinari, Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare (Conversations on Saint Lazarus Street) (1849)
  • Herbert Spencer, Social Statics (1851)
  • J.S. Mill, On Liberty (1859)
  • Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Ethics (1879)
  • Bruce Smith, Liberty and Liberalism (1888)
  • Ludwig von Mises, Liberalismus (Liberalism) (1927)
  • Friedrich Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty (1960)
  • Milton Friedman, Capitalism and and Freedom (1962)
  • David Friedman, The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism (1973)
  • Murray Rothbard, For a New Liberty (1974)

The list in chronological order (with links to online editions) is:

  • Wilhelm von Humboldt, The Sphere and Duties of Government (The Limits of State Action) (1792, 1851, 1854)
    • Wilhelm von Humboldt, Ideen zu einem Versuch, die Gränzen der Wirksamkeit des Staates zu bestimmen. Einleitung von Dr. Eduard Cauer. (Breslau: Eduard Trewendt, 1851). http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2318
    • Wilhelm von Humboldt, The Sphere and Duties of Government. Translated from the German of Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt, by Joseph Coulthard, Jun. (London: John Chapman, 1854). http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/589
    • (my enhanced edition – not online yet)
  • Benjamin Constant, Principes de politique, applicables à tous les gouvernemens représentatifs (The Principles of Politics) (1815)
    • Benjamin Constant, Principes de politique, applicables à tous les gouvernemens représentatifs et particulièrement à la constitution actuelle de la France (Paris: Alexis Eymery, mai 1815)
    • Benjamin Constant, Principles of Politics Applicable to a all Governments, trans. Dennis O’Keeffe, ed. Etienne Hofmann, Introduction by Nicholas Capaldi (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2003). http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/861
  • Gustave de Molinari, Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare (Conversations on Saint Lazarus Street) (1849)
  • Herbert Spencer, Social Statics (1851)
    • Herbert Spencer, Social Statics: or, The Conditions essential to Happiness specified, and the First of them Developed, (London: John Chapman, 1851). http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/273.
  • J.S. Mill, On Liberty (1859)
    • John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859) in The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XVIII – Essays on Politics and Society Part I, ed. John M. Robson, Introduction by Alexander Brady (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977).http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/233/16550.
  • Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Ethics (1879)
  • Bruce Smith, Liberty and Liberalism (1888)
    • Bruce Smith, Liberty and Liberalism: A Protest against the Growing Tendency toward undue Interference by the State, with Individual Liberty, Private Enterprise and the Rights of Property (London: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1888). http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/296
    • CIS new edition ??
  • Ludwig von Mises, Liberalismus (Liberalism) (1927)
    • Ludwig von Mises, Liberalismus (Jena: Fischer Verlag, 1927).
    • Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism: The Classical Tradition, trans. Ralph Raico, ed. Bettina Bien Greaves (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005. 1st translated 1962). http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/1463

Other important one volume surveys which are not available at the OLL:

  • Friedrich Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty (1960)
    • Friedrich A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty (Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1960).
  • Milton Friedman, Capitalism and and Freedom (University of Chicago Press, 1962)
  • Murray Rothbard, For a New Liberty (1974)
    • Murray N. Rothbard, For a New Liberty (New York: Macmillan, 1973). Revised edition 1978.
  • David Friedman, The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism (1973)
    • The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism (1st ed.: New York: Harper Colophon, 1973; Second Edition, 1983)
  • Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (New York: Basic Books, 1974)
  • Chandran Kukathas, The Liberal Archipelago: A Theory of Diversity and Freedom (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).