Andrew Joseph Galambos
Encyclopedia
Andrew Joseph Galambos created a theory
of freedom
. He was most famous for his strict stances on intellectual property
rights. Galambos distinguished his theory from that of Ludwig von Mises
(1949), Human Action
, subscribing to the same 'subjective theory of value' in economics
but deriving it from his own definition of property.
. Later, in 1958, he worked for Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation, which later became TRW Space Technology Laboratories.
. In 1961, Galambos met with Ayn Rand
, Ludwig von Mises
, Leonard Read
, Murray Rothbard
, and Henry Hazlitt
in New York. He also established The Free Enterprise Institute that year, which gave for-pay lectures on freedom and capitalism
.
which individuals trade, use, and consume as they live their lives. But Galambos notes that before those well-known goods and services became established, they had to be first conceived, discovered, or recognized by their primary owners. These acts of conception, discovery, or recognition Galambos denotes as the "primary property" of the individual, original owners.
Some of Galambos' students were required to acknowledge a "proprietary notice" which asked those students to give credit (both intellectually and financially) for the information gleaned from his courses; later he required that all participants in his lectures sign a non-disclosure agreement
to prevent publication of his ideas before he published them himself. Students were allowed to take notes for their private use and most lectures were taped. Course V-50T (the "T" was for Tape) was transcribed and published as Sic Itur Ad Astra (see below). Another course, V-201, which focused on mechanisms for intellectual property protection for inventors, also had a taped version, which is expected to be transcribed into future volumes.
V-50T and V-201T are occasionally offered as taped courses by The Free Enterprise Institute.
In 1998, volume one of Sic Itur Ad Astra ("This is the Way to the Stars") (ISBN 0-88078-004-5) was first published. The book is based on a course entitled "Course V-50, The Theory of Volition," Galambos gave at The Free Enterprise Institute in 1968. In the lectures which form the basis for the book, Galambos laid out his two postulates of volitional science,
Galambos equates immoral action with coercion and defines freedom as "the societal condition wherein every individual has one hundred percent control over his own property",
Galambos derives his theory from these postulates. The remainder of the course (and the book) consists of Galambos' elaboration of the theory and his application of that science to solve the problems of modern society.
Galambos always took care to acknowledge his sources such as Thomas Paine
's writings, as typified by article 4 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen -- "4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.".
supporting Barry Goldwater
, Galambos later became a classical liberal. He supported private protection and defense, the absolute rights of the owner of private property
, and was opposed to political voting
and other forms of political activism.
and was institutionalized in 1990. He died on April 10, 1997.
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
of freedom
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
. He was most famous for his strict stances on intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
rights. Galambos distinguished his theory from that of Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises was an Austrian economist, philosopher, and classical liberal who had a significant influence on the modern Libertarian movement and the "Austrian School" of economic thought.-Biography:-Early life:...
(1949), Human Action
Human Action
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics is the magnum opus of the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises. It presents a case for laissez-faire capitalism based on Mises' praxeology, or rational investigation of human decision-making. It rejects positivism within economics...
, subscribing to the same 'subjective theory of value' in economics
Austrian School
The Austrian School of economics is a heterodox school of economic thought. It advocates methodological individualism in interpreting economic developments , the theory that money is non-neutral, the theory that the capital structure of economies consists of heterogeneous goods that have...
but deriving it from his own definition of property.
Early career
Galambos moved to Los Angeles in 1952 to work for North American AviationNorth American Aviation
North American Aviation was a major US aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo Command and Service...
. Later, in 1958, he worked for Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation, which later became TRW Space Technology Laboratories.
Academia
Around 1960, Galambos left the aerospace industry to teach at Whittier CollegeWhittier College
Whittier College is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. As of January 2009, the college has approximately 1540 enrolled students.-Overview:...
. In 1961, Galambos met with Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
, Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig von Mises
Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises was an Austrian economist, philosopher, and classical liberal who had a significant influence on the modern Libertarian movement and the "Austrian School" of economic thought.-Biography:-Early life:...
, Leonard Read
Leonard Read
Leonard E. Read was an American economist and the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, which was the first modern free market think tank in the United States....
, Murray Rothbard
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...
, and Henry Hazlitt
Henry Hazlitt
Henry Stuart Hazlitt was an American economist, philosopher, literary critic and journalist for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The American Mercury, Newsweek, and The New York Times...
in New York. He also established The Free Enterprise Institute that year, which gave for-pay lectures on freedom and capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
.
Intellectual property
Galambos felt that intellectual property owners should have primary control over their own ideas and over how others might secondarily use those ideas. According to Galambos, all forms of property came from a combination of "primordial property" (a person's life) and "primary property" (a person's own ideas). By using the natural resources available in the physical universe, individuals use their primordial property, guided by primary property (actions, guided by ideas, respectively) to create "secondary property". That which Galambos denotes as "secondary property" are the well-known, established, goods and servicesGoods and services
In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility. It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax....
which individuals trade, use, and consume as they live their lives. But Galambos notes that before those well-known goods and services became established, they had to be first conceived, discovered, or recognized by their primary owners. These acts of conception, discovery, or recognition Galambos denotes as the "primary property" of the individual, original owners.
Some of Galambos' students were required to acknowledge a "proprietary notice" which asked those students to give credit (both intellectually and financially) for the information gleaned from his courses; later he required that all participants in his lectures sign a non-disclosure agreement
Non-disclosure agreement
A non-disclosure agreement , also known as a confidentiality agreement , confidential disclosure agreement , proprietary information agreement , or secrecy agreement, is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties...
to prevent publication of his ideas before he published them himself. Students were allowed to take notes for their private use and most lectures were taped. Course V-50T (the "T" was for Tape) was transcribed and published as Sic Itur Ad Astra (see below). Another course, V-201, which focused on mechanisms for intellectual property protection for inventors, also had a taped version, which is expected to be transcribed into future volumes.
V-50T and V-201T are occasionally offered as taped courses by The Free Enterprise Institute.
In 1998, volume one of Sic Itur Ad Astra ("This is the Way to the Stars") (ISBN 0-88078-004-5) was first published. The book is based on a course entitled "Course V-50, The Theory of Volition," Galambos gave at The Free Enterprise Institute in 1968. In the lectures which form the basis for the book, Galambos laid out his two postulates of volitional science,
- "Postulate Number One: All volitional beings live to pursue happiness," and
- "Postulate Number Two: All concepts of happiness pursued through moral action are equally valid."
Galambos equates immoral action with coercion and defines freedom as "the societal condition wherein every individual has one hundred percent control over his own property",
Galambos derives his theory from these postulates. The remainder of the course (and the book) consists of Galambos' elaboration of the theory and his application of that science to solve the problems of modern society.
Galambos always took care to acknowledge his sources such as Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
's writings, as typified by article 4 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen -- "4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.".
Liberal viewpoint
Originally a RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
supporting Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, Galambos later became a classical liberal. He supported private protection and defense, the absolute rights of the owner of private property
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
, and was opposed to political voting
Voting
Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns. It is often found in democracies and republics.- Reasons for voting :...
and other forms of political activism.
End of life
In the 1980s, Galambos was diagnosed with Alzheimer's DiseaseAlzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
and was institutionalized in 1990. He died on April 10, 1997.
Sources
....- Brian DohertyBrian Doherty (journalist)Brian Doherty is an American journalist. He is a Senior Editor at Reason magazine. He is the author of This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a New American Underground , Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement and Gun Control on Trial: Inside the...
. Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement (2007)
See also
- volition (psychology)Volition (psychology)Volition or will is the cognitive process by which an individual decides on and commits to a particular course of action. It is defined as purposive striving, and is one of the primary human psychological functions...
- volition (linguistics)Volition (linguistics)In linguistics, volition refers to a distinction that is made in some languages' verb conjugations or case assignment to express whether the subject intended the action or not, or whether it was done voluntarily or accidentally....
- integrityIntegrityIntegrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions...
- claim rights and liberty rightsClaim rights and liberty rightsSome philosophers and political scientists make a distinction between claim rights and liberty rights. A claim right is a right which entails responsibilities, duties, or obligations on other parties regarding the right-holder...
- deontic logicDeontic logicDeontic logic is the field of logic that is concerned with obligation, permission, and related concepts. Alternatively, a deontic logic is a formal system that attempts to capture the essential logical features of these concepts...
- law of obligationsLaw of obligationsThe law of obligations is one of the component private law elements of the civil system of law. It includes contract law, delict law, quasi-contract law, and quasi-delict law...
External links
- The Free Enterprise Institute Official website