lp 1 38 AREOPAGITICA MILTON’S INFLUENCE ON CLASSICAL AND MODERN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC THOUGHT英文文献.pdfVIP

LIBERTARIAN PAPERS VOL. 1, ART. NO. 38 (2009) AREOPAGITICA: MILTON’S INFLUENCE ON CLASSICAL AND MODERN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC THOUGHT ∗ ISAAC M. MOREHOUSE Introduction TAKING ON A GREAT AUTHOR like John Milton, and in particular attempting to draw from a work on free speech and the importance of an open exchange of ideas (specifically for religion) and endeavoring to apply its arguments to the field of economics is, to say the least, risky. I am well aware of the pitfalls and tendency to stretch for tenuous connections that comes with such a task—and Milton has seen his share of bad attempts to make his works fit into modern paradigms. It is not my goal to demonstrate, however, that Areopagitica is a foundational work of classical or modern economic theory, or that it has ever been explicitly viewed as such. Milton’s polemic is relevant to economics for three primary reasons. First, free speech is fundamentally connected to all other freedoms, including economic freedom. The oft-used dichotomy between “economic” and “social” freedoms is at best cumbersome, and sometimes dangerous. On the practical level, any society that does not allow the free exchange and study of ideas and a vigorous pursuit of knowledge is no place for an economist. Free speech is a precondition to good economics. On a more abstract level, economists cannot isolate “economic” behavior and policy from “social” behavior and policy, and a robust study of economic relations requires an understanding of all human relations. Communication is the most ∗Isaac M. Morehouse (isaacmorehouse@) is Policy Programs Director at the