Western Civilization Declaration

With the following Western Civilization Declaration, our intention is to make a strong case in the public for the foundations of our civilization still being an appropriate guide for the future of humanity. The patrons of the declaration are Václav Klaus, Javier Milei, and Jordan Peterson. We publish the declaration together with the names of 106 invited initial supporters. Over and above these persons, we are grateful to Guido Hülsmann and Thorsten Polleit for their help in organizing the declaration as well as Olivier Kessler for the publication via the Liberal Institute.

Madrid and Lausanne, 1 October 2024

Philipp Bagus and Michael Esfeld

Western Civilization Declaration

We are concerned about the direction that Western Civilization is taking. While there are currently powerful ideological-political forces at work that are about to destroy this civilization from within, we are convinced that many of its achievements still have the potential to serve as a guide for a just, peaceful, and prosperous future for the whole of humanity:

1. The thinkers of Greek and Roman antiquity, as well as the Jewish-Christian doctrine of man being created in the image of God and its secularization in the Age of Enlightenment, have established that all human beings are endowed with reason, therefore free in their thinking and acting and consequently responsible for what they do. Universal reason is what unites humankind and leads to recognizing each human being as an individual and unique person with dignity and the inalienable right to self-determine her or his life. By contrast, identities based on group affiliations (racial, gender, religious, or otherwise) divide humankind and result in suppressing individual freedom and dignity.
2. Through the recognition of individual freedom rights – the rights to life, liberty, and property – Western civilization has brought about achievements that are of utmost significance for the whole of humanity. These achievements include the abolition of slavery, the banishment of racism and tribalism, as well as the development of science and the rule of law, granting equal rights to all. Western civilization has flourished because these individual freedoms have enabled the spontaneous emergence of communities and societies built on voluntary interactions, rather than on coercion exercised by a central authority.
3. Individual liberties under the rule of law have paved the way for modern science and private entrepreneurship. Thanks to them, savings and hard work have not remained sterile or focused on the needs of political authorities, as they typically are in coercive social settings. Rather, through the creation of free markets and the deployment of capital (capitalism), they have created an unparalleled improvement in prosperity for all segments of the population. They have also provided efficient protection against the various risks in life for all, including an unheard-of improvement of hygienic standards and encouraging the careful, sustainable use of natural resources.
4. The socio-economic order that spontaneously springs from individual liberties under the rule of law is fundamental for material progress and the protection of the environment. Central planning and the abrogation of private property rights, by contrast, result in poor living standards for all but a small elite, while at the same time leading to the destruction of the natural environment.

Against the backdrop of these facts, we are convinced that continuing on the path of scientific, technological, economic, and cultural progress within the Western civilization’s framework of individual freedoms, private property, and the rule of law is the only way to preserve the past achievements while coping with the challenges of our times and building a just, peaceful, and prosperous future for the whole of humankind.

Patronage committee:

Václav Klaus, Former President of the Czech Republic

Javier Milei, President of Argentina

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Jordan Peterson, Professor of Psychology

Enquiries:

Philip Bagus, Professor of Economics, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain, philipp.bagus@urjc.es

Michael Esfeld, Professor of Philosophy, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, michael.esfeld@unil.ch

Invited signatories

Miguel Ángel Alonso Neira, Professor of Applied Economics, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Javier Aranzadi, Professor of Economic Theory and History, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain

André Azevedo Alves, Professor of Political Science, St. Mary’s University Twickenham, London, UK

Philip Bagus, Professor of Economics, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Luigi Marco Bassani, Professor of History of Political Thought, Università Telematica Pegaso, Rome, Italy

Miguel Anxo Bastos Boubeta, Professor of Political Science, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Konstantin Beck, Professor of Health Economics, University of Lucerne, Switzerland

Alberto Benegas Lynch, Presidente de la Sección Ciencias Económicas, Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ralf B. Bergmann, Professor of Physics, Bremen, Germany

María Blanco González, Professor of History of Economic Thought, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Madrid, Spain

Hardy Bouillon, Professor of Philosophy, Trier, Germany

Andreas Brenner, Professor for Philosophy, Basel, Switzerland

Per Bylund, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA

Paul Cullen, Professor of Laboratory Medicine, University of Münster, Germany

Gerald Dyker, Professor of Chemistry, University of Bochum, Germany

David Engels, Professor of History, Brussels, Belgium

Michael Esfeld, Professor of Philosophy, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Eduardo Fernández Luiña, Professor of Political Studies, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Madrid, Spain

Bernado Ferrero, Economist, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Egon Flaig, Professor emeritus of Ancient History, University of Rostock, Germany

Gunter Frank, Physician and publicist, Heidelberg, Germany

Carlos A. Gebauer, Specialist lawyer for medical law, Deputy Chairman of the Hayek Society and Deputy Chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia Bar Court, Düsseldorf, Germany

Bogdan Glăvan, Professor of Economics, Romanian-American University, Bucharest, România

León Gomez Rivas, Professor of Ethics and History of Economic Thought, Universidad Europea, Madrid, Spain

Gudrun Günzel, Pediatrician, Dresden, Germany

Reinhard Günzel, Physicist and Entrepreneur, Dresden, Germany

Andreas Heisler, Physician and Publicist, Ebikon, Switzerland

Laurent Heisten, Avocat à la Cour, Luxembourg

Jeffrey Herbener, Professor of Economics, Grove City College, Pennsylvania, USA

Stefan Homburg, Professor emeritus of Public Finance, University of Hannover, Germany

Guido Hülsmann, Professor of Economics, University of Angers, France

Jesús Huerta de Soto, Professor of Economics, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Karl-Friedrich Israel, Professor of Economics, Université Catholique de l’Ouest, Angers, France

Nathalie Janson, Professor of Economics, Neoma Business School, Paris, France

Axel Kaiser, Presidente de la Fundación para el Progreso, Santiago, Chile

Eric Kaufmann, Professor of Politics, University of Buckingham, UK

Olivier Kessler, Managing Director of the Liberal Institute, Zurich, Switzerland

Kay Klapproth, Biologist and Science Publicist, Heidelberg, Germany

Peter Klein, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA

Marcus Knaup, Private Docent in Philosophy, Hagen, Germany

Jörg Knoblauch, Honorary Professor, Entrepreneur and Publicist, Giengen, Germany

Barbara Kolm, Economist and Director of the Friedrich von Hayek Institute, Vienna, Austria

Robert C. Koons, Professor of Philosophy, University of Austin, Texas, USA

Sandra Kostner, Historian, University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd & Chair of the Network for Academic Freedom, Germany

Boris Kotchoubey, Professor emeritus of Medical Psychology, University of Tübingen, Germany

Markus Krall, Entrepreneur and Publicist, Hauptwil, Switzerland

Martin Krause, Professor of Economics, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Philipp Kruse, Attorney at Law, Zurich, Switzerland

Axel Bernd Kunze, Private Docent in Educational Science, University of Bonn, Germany

Daniel Lacalle, Economist, London, UK

Christian Langer, Entrepreneur, President of the Hayek Club Trier-Luxembourg, Germany

Vera Lengsfeld, Publicist, Sondershausen, Germany

Kurt R. Leube, Professor emeritus of Economics, Academic Director of the European Centre for Austrian Economics Foundation, Stanford, USA

Manuel Llamas, Executive Director of the Instituto Juan de Mariana, Madrid, Spain

Cristian Lopez, Philosopher, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Carlo Lottieri, Professor of Philosophy of Law, Università Telematica Pegaso, Rome, Italy

Christoph Lütge, Professor of Business Ethics, Technical University of Munich, Germany

Cristian Manolachi, Historian, Cluj-Napoca, România

Antonio Martínez González, Professor of Economics, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Cristobal Matarán, Professor of Economics, Universidad Europea, Madrid, Spain

Jörg Matysik, Professor of Analytical Chemistry, University of Leipzig, Germany

Thomas Mayer, Economist, Director of the Flossbach von Storch Research Institute, Cologne, Germany

Michael Meyen, Professor of Communication, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Germany

Alberto Mingardi, Professor of History of Political Thought, IULM University Milan, Italy

Daniel Model, Entrepreneur, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Liberal Institute, Triesen, Liechtenstein

Gustavo Morales-Alonso, Professor of Economics, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

José Manuel Moreira, Professor of Electronics and Telecommunication, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal

Gerd Morgenthaler, Professor of Law, University of Siegen, Germany

Benjamin Mudlack, Entrepreneur, Member of the Board of the Atlas Initiative, Salzbergen, Germany

Antony Müller, Professor of Economics, Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil

Gabriel Mursa, Professor of Economics and International Relations, University Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iaşi, România

Dietrich Murswiek, Professor emeritus of Public Law, University of Freiburg, Germany

Robert Nef, Publicist, St. Gallen, Switzerland

Max Otte, Professor of Political Economy and Entrepreneur, Cologne, Germany

Cristian Păun, Professor of Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, România

HSH Prince Philipp of Liechtenstein

Thorsten Polleit, Professor of Economics, University of Bayreuth and President of the Mises Institute, Germany

Jean-Claude Pont, Professor emeritus of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Adrián Ravier, Professor of Economics, Universidad del CEMA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Carlos Rodríguez Braun, Professor of History of Economic Thought, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain

Peter Ruch, Retired Pastor and Publicist, Küssnacht am Rigi, Switzerland

Roberto Salinas León, Director of the Atlas Network Center for Latin America, Mexico City

David Sanz Bas, Professor of Economics, Universidad Católica de Ávila, Spain

Andreas Schnepf, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Tübingen, Germany

Dieter Schönecker, Professor of Philosophy, University of Siegen, Germany

Christian Schubert, Professor of Medical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical University Innsbruck, Austria

Andrea Seaman, President of the Free Speech Union Switzerland, Zurich, Switzerland

Sigmund Selberg, Professor of Mathematics, University of Bergen, Norway

Wolfgang Stoelzle, formerly Professor of Logistics Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

André Thess, Professor of Energy Storage, University of Stuttgart, Germany

Andreas Tiedtke, Doctor of Law, Member of the Executive Board of the Ludwig von Mises Institut Deutschland, Lauf an der Pegnitz, Germany

Mark Thornton, Senior Fellow, Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama, USA

Mihai Vladimir Topan, Professor of Economics, University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, România

Cristinel Trandafir, Professor of Social Sciences, University of Craiova, România

Jeffrey Tucker, Brownstone Institute, Austin, Texas, USA

Tobias Unruh, Professor of Physics, University of Erlangen-Nünberg, Germany

Eric P. Verrecchia, Professor emeritus of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Carola Freiin von Villiez, Professor of Philosophy, University of Bergen, Norway

Daniel von Wachter, Professor of Philosophy, Mauren, Liechtenstein

Gerhard Wagner, Professor of Sociology, Goethe University, Frankfurt (Main), Germany

Karla Wagner, President of the Hayek Club Weimar, Germany

Harald Walach, Professorial Research Fellow, Next Society Institute, Kazimieras Simonavicius University Vilnius, Lithuania

John Waters, Publicist, Dublin, Ireland

Erich Weede, Professor emeritus of Sociology, University of Bonn, Germany

Roland Wiesendanger, Professor of Physics, University of Hamburg, Germany

Toby Young, Director, The Free Speech Union, London, UK