Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Cantor Interview

A 2001 interview with Paul Cantor on Austrian Economics and Culture in Austrian Economics Newsletter.

You have to love that he argues that being a contemporary Marxist literary critic is "like writing on literature and astronomy from a Ptolemaic perspective."

Cantor on why so many artists are socialists: "They hope that socialism will liberate them from their greatest fear: being judged by the common man."

"Kafka is the great chronicler of the absurdities created by modern government."

And finally, a reminder: "There’s lots of work to do [in Austrian economics], even among us noneconomists."

2 comments:

  1. being a contemporary Marxist literary critic is "like writing on literature and astronomy from a Ptolemaic perspective."

    Completely true! Once again people fail to see the fundamental issue. Perhaps it isn't that his economics don't work out but that his assumptions about people and society don't work out. Try arguing that with most English professors... I can tell you, it doesn't go over too well.

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  2. Perhaps the two -- his assumptions about people and society and his economics not working out -- aren't unrelated. :-)

    And you don't have to tell the M.A. in English and Ph.D. in the humanities who does his scholarly work using evolution and Austrian economics about what doesn't go over well among English and humanities professors. ;-)

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