Kinsella’s Mises Academy Courses: Libertarian Legal Theory, The Social Theory of Hoppe, Rethinking Intellectual Property

by Stephan Kinsella on August 17, 2026

As I noted in “My Years with the Mises Institute,” Property and Freedom Journal (May 2, 2026), in the section “Mises Academy and the High-Water Mark,” in its digital heyday under the ambitious leadership of Jeffrey Tucker and President Doug French, Tucker and French spearheaded the formation of the Mises Academy, taking advantage of (live) remote courses delivered over the Internet. As I noted in that article, since the ouster of Tucker and French, Mises.org has declined in many ways. The website indicates Mises Academy is still alive, but it’s hard to tell if this is so—though they are still begging for financing for it (Help Us Expand the Mises Academy!) despite sitting on an $80M warchest. Whatever. All I can say is, good thing I insisted on downloading copies my stuff at the time.

In any case, PFS readers may find of interest some of the following Mises Academy courses I conducted, back in 2010–2011. These included multi-course lectures, “Rethinking Intellectual Property: History, Theory, and Economics” (taught in both 2010 and 2011); “Libertarian Legal Theory: Property, Conflict, and Society,” “Libertarian Controversies,” and “The Social Theory of Hoppe,” and one webinar, “Obama’s Patent Reform: Improvement or Continuing Calamity?” All are available at the Kinsella on Liberty Podcast as well as Youtube.

Students loved it; one said, of the first IP lecture series,

thank you so very much for all the excellent work—very few classes have really changed my life dramatically, actually only 3 have, and all 3 were classes I took at the Mises Academy, starting with PP350… Keep up the good work.

Student Cam Rea wrote, about the first lecture of the course on Hoppe:

Move over Chuck Norris, Hans-Hermann Hoppe is in town! The introduction to “The Social Theory of Hoppe” was extremely thorough. I, a relative newcomer to the Hoppean idea, was impressed by Stephan Kinsella’s introduction to the theory. Mr. Kinsella hit upon all of those who came before Hoppe, and how each built upon another over the past two centuries. In other words, as Isaac Newton stated, “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Hoppe is the result thus far of those who came before him in the ideals of Austrian Economics and libertarian principles. Nevertheless, Hoppe takes it much further as in the Misesian concept of human action and the science of “praxeology”, from which all actions branch in life.

Overall, the class was extremely enjoyable, the questions concrete, and the answer provided by Mr. Kinsella clear and precise. Like many others in the class, I look forward to more. So tune in next Monday at 7pm EDT. Same Hoppe-time, same Hoppe-channel!

There were also rave reviews for the other courses, as noted in KOL153 | “The Social Theory of Hoppe.

Below are links to more information about Mises Academy in its heyday as well as information about the above-mentioned courses.