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John Hospers (June 9, 1918 – June 12, 2011) was an American philosopher and political activist. Hospers was interested in Objectivism, and was once a friend of the philosopher Ayn Rand, though he later broke with her. In 1972, Hospers became the first presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, and was the only minor party candidate to receive an electoral vote in that year's U.S. presidential election.
In 2002, an hour-long video about Hospers' life, work, and philosophy was released by the Liberty Fund of Indianapolis, as part of its Classics of Liberty series. John Hospers: The Intellectual Portrait Series , Liberty Fund.
Multiple sources, including the Libertarian Party, have referred to Hospers as the first openly gay person to run for president of the United States. However, The Guardian reported that his family "strenuously denied" that he was gay.
Hospers died in Los Angeles on June 12, 2011, at the age of 93.
According to Rand's biographer, Barbara Branden, Hospers met Rand when she addressed the student body at Brooklyn College. They became friends, and had lengthy philosophical conversations. Rand's discussions with Hospers contributed to her decision to write non-fiction. Hospers read Atlas Shrugged (1957), which he considered an aesthetic triumph.Hospers, John. Atlas Shrugged: A Twentieth Anniversary Tribute, Libertarian Review, Vol. VI, No. 6, October 1977. Although Hospers became convinced of the validity of Rand's Morality and Ideology views, he disagreed with her about issues of epistemology, the subject of their extensive correspondence. Hospers also disagreed with Rand about free will (with him favoring determinism, while she advocated a libertarian view) and conscription (Hospers supported it, Rand was opposed). Rand broke with Hospers after he, in his position as moderator, critiqued her address, and she felt he had criticized her talk on " Art and Sense of Life" before the American Society of Aesthetics at Harvard.Branden, Barbara, The Passion of Ayn Rand. ibid. p. 324.
Hospers and Nathan received one electoral vote from faithless elector Roger MacBride, a Republican from Virginia, resulting in Nathan's becoming the first woman and the first Jew to receive an electoral vote in a United States presidential election.
Hospers was editor of three anthologies, and contributed to books edited by others. He wrote more than 100 articles in various scholarly and popular journals.
Hospers was editor of The Personalist (1968–1982) and The Monist (1982–1992), and was a senior editor at Liberty magazine. Additionally Hospers wrote the article "Art and Morality" for the Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics (JCLA), Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer 1978.
Libertarianism
Friendship with Ayn Rand
During the period he taught philosophy at Brooklyn College, Hospers was very interested in Objectivism. He appeared on Talk radio with Ayn Rand, and devoted considerable attention to her ideas in his ethics textbook Human Conduct.
1972 presidential candidacy
In the 1972 U.S. presidential election, Hospers and Tonie Nathan were the first presidential and vice-presidential nominees, respectively, of the newly formed Libertarian Party. The Libertarian Party was poorly organized, and Hospers and Nathan managed to get on the ballot in only two statesDionne, E. J. Why Americans Hate Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. p. 269. (Washington and Colorado), receiving 3,674 popular votes. "1972 Presidential General Election Results", Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
Later views
By 1991, Hospers had left the Libertarians for the Republican Party, where he helped establish the Republican Liberty Caucus. He adopted more conventionally conservative views in his later writings. In 1998, Hospers wrote an article rejecting open border immigration; in a 2007 revision of his book Libertarianism, the author said he supported the Iraq War.
Bibliography
Hospers' books include:
See also
External links
Categories: 1918 Births, 2011 Deaths, 20th-century American Philosophers, American Book Editors, American Ethicists, American Gay Politicians, American Magazine Editors, American Male Non-fiction Writers, American People Of Dutch Descent, American Philosophers Of Art, American Political Philosophers, American Political Writers, Brooklyn College Faculty, California Libertarians, California Republicans, California State University, Los Angeles Faculty, Candidates In The 1972 United States Presidential Election, Central College Alumni, Columbia Graduate School Of Arts And Sciences Alumni, Determinists, Libertarian Party Presidential Nominees, Libertarian Theorists, People From Pella, Iowa, Philosophers From California, Philosophers From Idaho, Philosophers From New York, University Of Iowa Alumni, University Of Minnesota Alumni, University Of Southern California Faculty, Writers From California, Writers From Iowa, Writers From New York City
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