From the monthly archives: September 2011
Libertarians are often very hostile to environmental regulation. Why? Reflecting on the argument below should help us understand their grounds and whether the grounds are any good.
1. Pollution and other kinds of environmental externalities impose costs upon others. A polluter forces others to bear the costs of his activities. Pollution tends to violate people’s [...]
Even if we grant for the sake of argument that some people deserve to die, it does not follow that the state may be authorized to kill them. For a state to have the right to kill criminals, it must make decisions about guilt and hear appeals in a fair, competent, and reliable manner. It [...]
Suppose there was a political ideology that promised to liberate the working masses from the evils of alienation and exploitation, and deliver them instead unto a social order characterized by superabundant material wealth and both social and political equality. But every single time some society tries to put this ideology into practice, the result is almost precisely [...]
You Twitter types out there can now follow the blog @BHLBlog. Get instant updates when new posts go up, plus tweets about some of the more interesting responses to our stuff around the web. A couple of us BHLers have individual Twitter accounts too, where we occasionally share material that might be [...]
Wolf Blitzer: You’re a physician, Ron Paul, so you’re a doctor. You know something about this subject. Let me ask you this hypothetical question.
A healthy 30-year-old young man has a good job, makes a good living, but decides: “You know what? I’m not going to spend $200 or $300 a month for health [...]
The Libertarian Critique of Distributive Justice
By Matt Zwolinski On September 13, 2011 · 50 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Libertarianism, Social Justice
There’s a common argument that libertarians make against the idea of social or distributive justice. The argument, made by both Robert Nozick and Friedrich Hayek, purports to show not merely that the idea of distributive justice advocated by left-liberals like John Rawls is immoral, but that it is conceptually confused. Asking whether the distribution of [...]
I’m trying out a new feature on the blog. Since many of our readers are not academics, and since even many academics (myself included!) have a hard time keeping up with everything that’s published, I thought it might be helpful to alert readers to new material that might be of interest. So every three months [...]
It looks like I’ll be writing a short book titled Libertarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know for OUP. These books are aimed at a mixed audience–popular and academic. They’re serious books, but readable. The books are divided into thematic chapters. Each chapter takes a question-and-answer format. So, for example, chapter one of Islam: What Everyone [...]
Here’s a recent podcast (from the Institute of Humane Studies’ Kosmos project) of me talking about markets in kidneys and children.
Enjoy!
A Possible BHL position on Humanitarian Aid
By Andrew Cohen On September 5, 2011 · 38 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Left-libertarianism, Liberalism, Libertarianism, Social Justice, Toleration
Assume there is a moral principle indicating that states (or citizens therein) that have adequate (or better) resources have an obligation to aid those in states that have inadequate resources. Such a principle has been defended, of course (see, for example, Charles Beitz’ 1979, esp. 136-143). Importantly, even if such a [...]
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