An Austrian in France: Anthony de Jasay (1925-2019)

If it is the rule of the game that two persons may dispossess a third who must submit to being dispossessed, the rule is unjust.

Anthony de Jasay

Take Away

Based on a solid epistemology, the main aim of Anthony de Jasay’s philosophical work was to reformulate political and economic liberalism. His writings offer a remedy to what he considers the “loss of identity, loss of moral vigor, and vulnerability to dilution” of liberalism in modern times. For him, the individual is fundamentally free to act as long as there are no justifiable objections. De Jasay’s social order is therefore based on private property, on voluntary contractual relationships, on individual responsibility and on the personal reputation that arises from mutual trust. With sharp logic, he demonstrates the errors in thinking of those politically inflammatory philosophies that see the state as an omniscient and necessary authority to enforce semantic traps like the “public interest”, “social justice”, or “justified needs”.

It is 2025, and lest we forget one of the most seminal thinkers of our times, we should recall the important work of Anthony de Jasay who was born 100 years ago in Aba, an
unassuming rural settlement near Szekesfehervar, some 65 Km west of Budapest in Hungary.

Born into the Hungarian landed gentry near Aba, Anthony de Jasay studied agricultural economics at the University of Budapest until the communists seized power in Hungary in 1948. At his own risk, de Jasay escaped to wartorn Austria and spent two grim post-war years in Salzburg, working odd jobs. In 1950, he finally managed to emigrate to Perth in Western Australia, where he began studying economics at the University of Western Australia. Winning a British Hackett Student Scholarship enabled him to continue his studies at Oxford University in 1955. It was thanks to the clarity of his thinking and expression that he was soon elected Research Fellow at Nuffield College (Oxford) that guaranteed a research position for the next seven years. During this time, a whole series of theoretical works were written that appeared in the discipline’s important academic journals. However, unsatisfied with the rather conservative atmosphere at Oxford University, de Jasay decided to give up his academic career, moved to Paris and began working there in 1962, initially in an executive position in banking. After a short time, he managed to set up his own business as an investment banker and became soon so successful on his own responsibility both in Europe and the USA that he was able to retire to the seclusion of Normandy in late 1979. He lived there for the remaining 40 years of his life with his wife Isabelle as a private scholar. Despite his serious eye disease, which led to his almost complete blindness in the last 10 years, he devoted himself almost exclusively to his work on the problems of social and political philosophy. Without bitterness or any mourning, he commented the complete loss of his fortune in his typical fashion: “I have made fortunes, I have lost fortunes. Period”.

Based on a solid theory of knowledge, Anthony de Jasay’s main aim was to reformulate the political and economic philosophy of Liberalism. For him, individuals are in principle free to act as long as there are no justifiable objections. His social order thus is based on private property, voluntary contractual relationships, individual responsibility and personal reputation that results from mutual trust. With sharp logic, he demonstrates the errors of thought of those politically as well as socially destructive philosophies that see the state as an all-knowing and necessary authority for the enforcement of a vague public interest based on undefined assumptions of social justice, or even justified needs.

Although the progressive deterioration of his eyesight severely affected the pace of his work, de Jasay has given us about a dozen major, groundbreaking and seminal books in addition to countless essays and sundries. Many of his works have been translated into a half-dozen languages. His most important books include “The State” (1985), “Choice, Contract, Consent” (1991), “Against Politics” (1997), “Justice and its Surroundings” (2002) or “Political Economy, Precisely. Essays on Policy that Does not Work, and Market that Do”(2009). “Justice and its Surroundings” contains his critical analyses of the concept of justice and the social issues that surround it. For de Jasay, the idea of justice is neither an all-embracing scheme of mutual insurance, nor the term of an agreement that might be reached in certain situations in distant imaginary world.

Although mostly shamefully pushed aside by the international academic establishment, Anthony de Jasay was one of the most innovative, interesting and consistent thinkers of our time. He belonged to that small group of great philosophers who hardly ever quoted from his own works or repeated their insights in newly styled texts. The inner consistency of his ideas, the compelling logic and honest scientific approach, but also the clarity of his expression are unmatched. De Jasay’s elegant demeanor, his lovable nature and his fine humor are legion. As a person and fatherly friend, he certainly came as close to the ideal of the “gentleman” as humanity allows.

In recognition of his great work and his connection with the ECAEF, the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation (ecaef.org) awarded him the “ECAEF Prize for Thinkers for the Third Millennium”; in December 2015. His most important essays published in German have been collected in the ECAEF book series with the title “Liberale Vernunft, Soziale Verwirrung”. This book was dedicated to him in 2008 in friendship and gratitude and is still in print and readily available.