The Mises Institute will host a one-day Libertarian Scholars Conference on March 20, 2025 in Auburn, Alabama.
The first Libertarian Scholars Conference was held in New York City in 1972 under the aegis of the Center for Libertarian Studies. The conference was held annually (except for 1973) throughout the 1970s in New York or Princeton, New Jersey (1977, 1978), with the 8th and last “national” conference taking place at the Hotel Diplomat in New York. In the early 1980s regional Libertarian Scholars Conferences were held in Chicago and other cities. The conferences featured papers by the founding fathers of modern libertarian scholarship, including Murray Rothbard, Leonard Liggio, Walter Block, Ralph Raico, Ron Hamowy, Roy Childs and Walter Grinder. Other prominent scholars who presented papers were Henry Veatch, Leland Yeager, Hillel Steiner, Douglas Rasmussen, David Calleo, Bruce Russett, and Samuel Brittain.
The Libertarian Scholars Conference was originally conceived as a forum for scholars from different disciplines to meet and exchange ideas on the study of liberty. The ultimate goal was to integrate their diverse insights and approaches into a broad interdisciplinary perspective on liberty, what Murray Rothbard called “the discipline of liberty.” The founders of the conference hoped that this discipline or systematic body of knowledge would give shape and direction to the growing ideological movement of modern libertarianism, much as British classical and French liberal political economy had guided the movement of classical (laissez-faire) liberalism. This series of conferences succeeded admirably in stimulating scholarly research from a libertarian perspective and attracting many new scholars, young and old, to the scientific study of liberty.
The libertarian movement has grown tremendously since the early 1980s and so has the need for intellectual guidance from experts in the social sciences and humanities, whose several disciplines help elucidate the nature of human liberty and its importance in nurturing and sustaining the social order that permits human civilization to flourish.
Schedule and Fees:
The conference begins on Thursday, March 20, 2025 at the Mises Institute at 1:00 p.m. central time. Registration will include refreshments, a keynote lecture, breakout sessions, and a closing reception at the Auburn University Hotel.
Please note: registration for LSC 2025 is separate from registration for AERC 2025.
Email Felicia Jones with questions, [email protected].
Submissions:
Proposals for individual papers, complete paper sessions, and symposia are encouraged. Papers should be well developed, but at a stage where they can still benefit from the group’s discussion. Preference will be given to recent research papers that are intended for submission to scholarly journals and have not been given at major conferences. All topics related to libertarian themes in the social sciences and humanities are welcome. Abstracts should be limited to 250 words. All proposals are peer reviewed by the Libertarian Scholars Conference Program Committee.
Transportation:
Most attendees fly into the Atlanta airport, which is an hour and 45 minutes north of Auburn. Atlanta is in the eastern time zone and Auburn is an hour behind in the central time zone.
Shuttle between Atlanta airport and Auburn
Shuttle between Atlanta, Birmingham, Montgomery, or Columbus, GA airports and Auburn
Driving directions to Auburn
