Today I had the pleasure of attending a wonderful NOUS event.
I found the title intriguing and would like to share some notes and thoughts that I gathered today.
Ordoliberalism, Practical Reason, and the Moral Order: A Short Introduction
In the turbulent interwar years of 20th-century Germany, a group of thinkers known as the Freiburg School developed what would later be called Ordoliberalism — a “third way” between laissez-faire capitalism and authoritarian state socialism. Their vision was not merely economic, but deeply moral and philosophical.
Amid the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism, the ordoliberals sought to re-establish a stable social order based on Christian ethics and Aristotelian virtue. They imagined a society where the economy serves the common good, not private power or ideological ends. This was reflected in their 1943 Second Denkschrift, where they tentatively proposed a social and legal framework inspired by Christian moral principles, emphasizing service, justice, and responsibility.
Central to their approach was a kind of “idealistic authoritarianism” — not authoritarian in the political sense, but grounded in the authority of reason. Specifically, they looked to Kant’s practical reason and the Categorical Imperative: laws should be justifiable by universal principles, not arbitrary will. The state’s role, therefore, is to enforce a legal framework that enables free, responsible individuals to act as moral agents in the marketplace.
This resulted in a model of governance where the rule of law and competitive markets are seen as mutually reinforcing. The state maintains the conditions for fair competition and individual freedom but refrains from direct economic control.
Ultimately, Ordoliberalism represents a uniquely German synthesis of moral philosophy, legal order, and economic governance — one that remains influential, contested, and deeply relevant to modern political economy.
| Concept | What it means |
| Aristotelian-Christian order | A moral society, guided by virtues: duty, justice, service—within economic and social institutions |
| Idealistic authoritarianism | A strong framework of rational laws grounded in moral reason—not arbitrary power |
| Rule of law & practical reason | Laws reflecting universalizable moral principles (Kantian), ensuring human dignity and fairness |
| Ordoliberal political project | State designs and enforces fair rules; citizens act within them as moral agents; neither laissez‑faire nor authoritarian socialism |
Interesting. I think what I'd want to push them to think about more is whether the ideal balance between authoritarianism and libertarianism depends on the virtues of the population.
For example, a population that shows self restraint and virtue may fit well into an ordoliberal or even libertarian framework.
But a population that is selfish and does not respect the property rights of others may require more rules and state power.
Or punishment and exile from the community! The problem nowadays is that there are no consequences for being an idiot in our society.
wish it were that simple. but many people in my society would have called me the idiot and exiled me for my COVID views
Didn’t they try that? I ignored them when they tried that with me and will never return to those businesses that pulled their ordered by the state bullshit on me. They earned what they are getting, good and hard. Now the consequences of their idiocy are coming to the fore with the increase in all-cause mortality. They just weren’t observant enough and suspicious enough. Paranoia has it’s advantages!
discrimination is how we regulate deviant behavior in a free society!
Well, there is always the Darwin Award! It is an easily earned reward for being an idiot, stupid or sometimes, just plain inobservant. I am constantly thankful that I avoided that award.
One way to handle the non-respecting crowd is to just shun them completely. Let them stand on their own while everybody else refuses to have anything to do with them. This worked very well during Edo-jidai in Japan.
Jewish bankers own and control the Fed. Christian values would impose strict limits upon usury (as was the case to some extent until the neoliberal deregulation of banking in the 1980s) but these have been obliterated by rentseeking bankers who own and control the wests politics.