The Religion of a Skeptic: Frank H. Knight on Ethics, Spirituality and Religion During His Iowa Years

28 Pages Posted: 9 Apr 2007

See all articles by Ross B. Emmett

Ross B. Emmett

Arizona State University (ASU) - Center for the Study of Economic Liberty; PERC - Property and Environment Research Center

Date Written: March 18, 2007

Abstract

Frank H. Knight's antagonism to religion is well-known, and features prominently in his writings from the 1930s on. But during the 1920s, when he was a professor at the University of Iowa and wrote some of his most important essays on the limitations of economics, Knight was an active participant in the Iowa City Unitarian church. Drawing upon research about his association with the Unitarian church, and his unpublished writings from the period on religion, economics and social organization, the paper argues that the Unitarian association provided a community open to discussion of the multi-dimensionality of human experience, which assisted Knight in his investigation of ethics, economics, science, and liberal democracy. In the end, however, his association with the Unitarians evaporated when he moved back to the University of Chicago in 1928.

Keywords: Knight, religion, spirituality, Unitarianism, liberalism, liberal democracy, religion and economics, religion and politics

JEL Classification: B31

Suggested Citation

Emmett, Ross B., The Religion of a Skeptic: Frank H. Knight on Ethics, Spirituality and Religion During His Iowa Years (March 18, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=979221 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.979221

Ross B. Emmett (Contact Author)

Arizona State University (ASU) - Center for the Study of Economic Liberty ( email )

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