From the monthly archives: June 2011

Why Free Markets?

By On June 29, 2011 · 109 Comments · In Consequentialism, Liberalism, Libertarianism

My first post this week led to some interesting discussion in the comments, which has in turn led me to this post.  One issue that came up there was, and I paraphrase: “Okay, fine, markets really do benefit the poor, but the dispute between modern liberals and libertarians is not over ‘markets’ but over ‘free [...]

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Nozick on Philosophical Explorations: There is Room for Words other than Last Words

By On June 29, 2011 · 11 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Book/Article Reviews, Libertarianism

Always make sure to read the prefaces and introductions to Nozick’s books. They’re fascinating.

Nozick is smarter than you. If you and he had a live debate about something (anything), he would probably win. (He’d be able to outargue you, even if you were right and he were wrong.) Despite that, Nozick has a surprising [...]

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A Same-Sex Marriage Question for Some Libertarians

By On June 29, 2011 · 37 Comments · In Current Events, Libertarianism

A question for my libertarian friends who think legalizing same-sex marriage is problematic because it extends the state’s involvement in the institution:

Suppose everyone paid taxes to Social Security but benefits were only available to white folks, leading to someone proposing to make benefits also available to non-whites. Would you argue that was [...]

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Strange Absences in Anarchy, State, and Utopia

By On June 28, 2011 · 8 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Book/Article Reviews, Libertarianism, Liberty, Rights Theory

I’ll write a more serious post tomorrow. But here’s a little lighthearted fun.

Nozick is often interpreted as grounding his main arguments in Anarchy, State, and Utopia on self-ownership. People view him as making the following kind of argument, the Self-Ownership Implies Libertarianism Argument:

Every moral agent is a self-owner. To [...]

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Is this free trade?

By On June 28, 2011 · 5 Comments · In Current Events

According to an email from the NY Times, The White House and Congress agreed to allow free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to move forward. Good. But the deal apparently “includes funding through 2013 for a program that provides benefits, including cash payments, to workers whose jobs are shipped overseas.” The two [...]

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Correcting One Big Misreading of Nozick: On The Structure of Anarchy, State, and Utopia

By On June 27, 2011 · 27 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Book/Article Reviews, Libertarianism

I’m going to blog my way through re-reading Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Sometimes I will defend it; sometimes I will criticize it. Sometimes I’ll cite secondary literature, but usually I won’t. Here’s the first post.

Anarchy, State, and Utopia (hereafter ASU) is divided into three parts. Part I argues that a minimal state [...]

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Markets and the Economic Condition of the Poor

By On June 27, 2011 · 45 Comments · In Consequentialism, Current Events, Social Justice

First, let me thank Matt for inviting me to guest blog this week.  I know many of the bloggers here and am a big fan of their work.  I also love this blog – both the idea and the execution.  And it’s a special treat for me to be among the philosophers and make some [...]

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Libertarianism and the Right to Work

By On June 25, 2011 · 94 Comments · In Current Events, Left-libertarianism, Libertarianism, Social Justice

Right to Work legislation is in the news again, as New Hampshire Republicans fail to round up sufficient votes to become the 23rd state to enact such legislation.  Over at the Washington Examiner, Timothy Carney sets out (with a little help from RadGeek Charles Johnson) a

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Re-Reading Nozick?

By On June 24, 2011 · 16 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Book/Article Reviews, Libertarianism

Hi, everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. My son Keaton is now 2 1/2 months old, and things have started settling down for me (except that I’m in the process of moving to Virginia).

Since I mostly work in democratic theory now, I’ve haven’t had much to write about here on this [...]

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Guest Blogging – Steve Horwitz

By On June 23, 2011 · 1 Comment · In Blog Administration

I am very pleased to announce that for the next week or so, Steve Horwitz is going to be guest blogging for us here at BHL.  Many of you know Steve already from his blogging at Coordination Problem.  He also writes a truly outstanding weekly column for

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