Currently viewing the tag: "left-libertarianism"

Molinari Unbound!

By On May 1, 2013 · 2 Comments · In Announcements

I’ve contributed the opening essay to an exchange on “Gustave de Molinari’s Legacy for Liberty” at Liberty Fund’s new “Liberty Matters” forum.

Responses by Gary Chartier, Matt Zwolinski, David Friedman, and David Hart will be forthcoming in a few days, followed by exchange among the five of us.

Thanks to Sheldon Richman for [...]

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Percy Shelley – Left-Libertarian?

By On April 23, 2013 · 7 Comments · In A Bleeding Heart History of Libertarian Thought, Left-libertarianism, Libertarianism

Most of you are probably familiar with Shelley for his Romantic poetry. But did you know that he dabbled in political philosophy too? Perhaps even … libertarian political philosophy? Check out the following excerpt from his 1820 essay, A Philosophical View of Reform, especially the third paragraph, and look for the [...]

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Jason Brennan Did Not Like Gary Chartier’s Book

By On March 12, 2013 · 40 Comments · In Book/Article Reviews, Left-libertarianism, Libertarianism

The argument of Anarchy and Legal Order is relatively simple and straightforward. There are some things we may never reasonably do to each other, and other things we have very good reason not do. Territorial monopolists—states—do these things persistently. Their putative value as maintainers of social order might be thought to render [...]

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Blogging at Libertarianism.Org, Part 4: Liberty and Property

By On February 5, 2013 · 7 Comments · In Libertarianism, Liberty, Links, Rights Theory

Speaking of property, my latest at Libertarianism.org is up, looking at the relationship between freedom and property. The controversial part of my thesis, at least for libertarians I guess, is that property rights necessarily restrict freedom. I think they enhance it in various ways too, but it’s important for libertarians [...]

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Strong and Weak Anti-Conflation

By On November 14, 2012 · 46 Comments · In Left-libertarianism, Libertarianism, Symposium on Left-Libertarianism

[Editors Note: This essay is part of BHL's Symposium on Left-Libertarianism. Click on the link to see the other essays.] In an important essay, “Corporations versus the Market, or Whip Conflation Now,” Roderick Long has identified a fallacy committed by both defenders and critics of libertarianism. Those who commit this fallacy identify [...]

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On the Edge of Utopianism

By On November 12, 2012 · 64 Comments · In Left-libertarianism, Libertarianism, Symposium on Left-Libertarianism

[Editors Note: This essay is part of BHL's Symposium on Left-Libertarianism. Click on the link to see the other essays.]

As Matt said in his post announcing this symposium, many of us who blog here are very sympathetic to the left-libertarian project, even as we have [...]

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The Conflation Trap

By On November 7, 2012 · 49 Comments · In Left-libertarianism, Libertarianism, Symposium on Left-Libertarianism

[Editors Note: This essay is part of BHL's Symposium on Left-Libertarianism. Click on the link to see the other essays.]

Left-libertarians differ from the (current) libertarian mainstream both in terms of what outcomes they regard as desirable, and in terms of what outcomes they think a freed market is likely to produce.

With regard [...]

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Libertarianism Means Worker Empowerment

By On July 10, 2012 · 101 Comments · In Democracy, Exploitation, Left-libertarianism, Libertarianism, Social Justice

Advocates of free markets and advocates of worker empowerment often find themselves at odds, as is attested by the current controversy between Bertram, Robin, and Gourevitch on the one hand and members of this blog on the other.

This was not always so. In the 19th century, free-market libertarians were in the forefront [...]

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Chartier on the Right to Work

By On May 18, 2012 · 44 Comments · In Current Events, Left-libertarianism, Libertarianism, Social Justice

There’s been a bit of discussion in one of our recent comment threads about so-called “right-to-work” laws (RTW). This is a topic we’ve discussed before here. And it’s one about which I still haven’t entirely made up my mind. It’s sometimes difficult to know what [...]

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Self-Ownership and External Property

By On April 25, 2012 · 92 Comments · In Left-libertarianism, Libertarianism, Rights Theory, Symposium on Libertarianism and Land

What kind of external property rights are consistent with self-ownership?

It seems to me that once one acknowledges self-ownership, one cannot acknowledge any other rights unless those rights are themselves grounded in self-ownership.

How so? Well, the difference between rights and other moral claims is that rights are legitimately enforceable. So any limits that [...]

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