7. Helping Future Generations of Scholars

Edward Stringham

From criticizing democracy to advocating a stateless society Prof. Hans-Hermann Hoppe is well known for not backing away from controversy.¹ Hoppe has well earned reputation for not compromising his beliefs and not sugarcoating how he presents ideas. But I would like to highlight how in addition to being an uncompromising scholar, Professor Hoppe has been very supportive of others as well. My story has to do with Hoppe as the Editor of the Journal of Libertarian Studies, and myself at the beginning of what has become an academic career. In 1997, I finished my college honors thesis under the direction of my professor Walter Block. My topic was on privatizing law enforcement, for which I read a bunch of material including two of Professor Hoppe’s books, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism and The Economics and Ethics of Private Property.² I think the thesis was fine for my age, but it was not nearly as structured or polished as something one would write with years of experience. I hoped to be able to publish something from it, but I did not know where to begin. Walter Block said I should send the complete manuscript to Professor Hoppe to ask for advice.

One can only imagine how many other things Prof. Hoppe had on is plate, but not only did he look at my manuscript—he read all 120 pages. Professor Hoppe also took the time to highlight what was useful and what was potentially publishable. And I really appreciated what Prof. Hoppe had to say. My favorite part of the manuscript had been the final quarter, but Walter Block said he liked the first three quarters and not the last part. One can only imagine my dismay when I showed the manuscript to my mother and she said the same thing. Yet Professor Hoppe said that my important contribution was in the final part! I ended up following Hoppe’s recommendations, and rewrote the final quarter as a stand-alone piece, which ended up as my first publication.³ This pleasant experience paved the way for dozens of other publications, and so I am glad Prof. Hoppe was the way he was. The fact that such an established scholar took the time to help the young me is something for which I will always be grateful.

Edward Stringham (edward.stringham@trincoll.edu) is Shelby Cullom Davis Visiting Associate Professor at Trinity College.

¹See, e.g., Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Democracy—The God that Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2001); idem, “Government and the Private Production of Defense,” in idem, ed., The Myth of National Defense: Essays on the Theory and History of Security Production (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, 2003).

²Idem, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism: Economics, Politics, and Ethics (Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989); idem, The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy, 2nd ed. (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, 2006 [1993]).

³Edward Stringham, “Market Chosen Law,” Journal of Libertarian Studies 14 no. 1 (Winter 1998–99): 53–77.