The Liberty Fund recently lost a great friend with the passing of Paul Lewis. Paul was a professor of political and economics at Kings University in London, and before that he was in the Cambridge faculty. Paul was a great interpreter of economic thought and certain thinkers. So Bruce Caldwell asked Hayek to edit the collective work. He was working on another volume when he tragically passed away at an age too young at 53.
Paul’s work was wide at the intersection of philosophy and economics, but it was his macro-level work comparing various schools that purchased many of the classic liberal thinking in the 20th century, establishing him as a top-notch scholar among pro-philosophers. He was “fluent” at Austrian Economics, Public Choice and Bloomington School, and published Noble papers with leading scholars in each field.
He was also the king of the great title of his papers when he could. A recent paper with Meadowcroft in the Constitutional Political and Economics involved Buchanan and Vincent Ostrom “Constitutional Artisans” in Calleed Calleed Buchanan and Vincent Ostrom. Behind the invisible hand is a handle, which feeds the classic liberal concept of invisible hand, ironically far from the crowd of nihilists: theoretical contributions of radical subjectivists’ Austrian economics. Perhaps my personal favorites are orders, orders everywhere….. Hayek’s market and other orders are super titles and a variety of interesting papers. He sees the coordination across the territory occupied by many of the most influential classical liberal economists, and we excel in his research.
I actually remember vividly when I first met Paul. We were at Ockenden Manor in 2007. A lot of things surprised me about Paul, including his academic and thoughtful approach to his work, his authentic and simple smile, and his sense of humor for self-exclusion. I also met him running through the fields while I was taking off and walking through the countryside. You say he loves his life and what he did.
Paul and I regularly worked with many Liberty Fund projects. Paul and Liberty funds were not always politically agreed, but he agreed with our mission and in particular our texts. I oversaw his first Liberty Fund conference with him in Isaiah Berlin in 2011. I found this meeting very interesting. I was writing a paper on Berlin’s economics. That’s why Paul from Graishley invited me to facs up the Kingdom and present it to the student group. In typical Paul fashion, he kindly chopped me up in part of the event discussion and then bought me a really good dinner.
We worked together at many meetings that always thought and challenged me. Our LAS was edited by Hayek Collected Works Bolume and was an ultra-volume event won by Bruce Caldwell and the outstanding group. Paul contributed to our conference programme, but we cannot fully repay him for his work in helping to promote conversations about a free and responsible society. He will miss a lot.
