For those of my readers not already familiar with the Institute for Humane Studies (“IHS”), I would like to provide here a brief introduction. Founded in 1961 by F.A. (“Baldy”) Harper, a Cornell University economist, IHS has for the last 50 years been one of the leading institutions promoting the virtues of classical liberalism/libertarianism. It does so through educational outreach, providing opportunities for faculty members to interact with peers, and through scholarships, seminars and conferences for graduate and undergraduate students on its campus at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia, and at other academic institutions around the nation. Its alumni are well represented in the economics, political science, philosophy and history departments of our leading colleges and universities.
Online learning has long been a part of the IHS mission, and it is now in the midst of a major initiative to bring cutting edge scholarship to a wider audience. It has recently launched Liberty Academy, a free, self-paced online education resource featuring leading scholars within the classical liberal tradition. Its first two online courses, The Economic Way of Thinking and Political Philosophy: Liberty and Rights, consist of a series of original 2-5 minute videos, which in their totality provide an excellent introduction to each topic. After each video, students are referred to additional resources where they can delve deeper, discuss the ideas with others, and take a self-assessment to test their understanding.
I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity, and to share it with your friends. There is a link (“Learning Liberty”) to Liberty Academy on the right margin of this page.
