Anti-libertarianism
Anti-libertarianism

Author: Alan Haworth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-09-27

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1134890729

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Free marketeers claim that theirs is the only economic mechanism which respects and furthers human freedom. Socialism, they say, has been thoroughly discredited. Most libertarians treat the state in anything other than its minimal, 'nightwatchman' form as a repressive embodiment of evil. Some reject the state altogether. But is the 'free market idea' a rationally defensible belief? Or do its proponents fail to examine the philosophical roots of their so-called freedom? Anti-libertarianism takes a sceptical look at the conceptual tenets of free market politics. Alan Haworth argues that libertarianism is little more than an unfounded, quasi-religious statement of faith: a market romance. Moreover, libertarianism is exposed as profoundly antithetical to the very freedom which it purports to advance. This controversial book is for anyone interested in the cultural and political impact of free market policies on the modern world. It will be invaluable to students and specialists of political and economic theory, social science and philosophy.

A Minimal Libertarianism
A Minimal Libertarianism

Author: Christopher Evan Franklin

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0190682787

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In this book, Christopher Evan Franklin develops and defends a novel version of event-causal libertarianism. This view is a combination of libertarianism--the view that humans sometimes act freely and that those actions are the causal upshots of nondeterministic processes--and agency reductionism--the view that the causal role of the agent in exercises of free will is exhausted by the causal role of mental states and events (e.g., desires and beliefs) involving the agent. Franklin boldly counteracts a dominant theory that has similar aims, put forth by well-known philosopher Robert Kane. Many philosophers contend that event-causal libertarians have no advantage over compatibilists when it comes to securing a distinctively valuable kind of freedom and responsibility. To Franklin, this position is mistaken. Assuming agency reductionism is true, event-causal libertarians need only adopt the most plausible compatibilist theory and add indeterminism at the proper juncture in the genesis of human action. The result is minimal event-causal libertarianism: a model of free will with the metaphysical simplicity of compatibilism and the intuitive power of libertarianism. And yet a worry remains: toward the end of the book, Franklin reconsiders his assumption of agency reductionism, arguing that this picture faces a hitherto unsolved problem. This problem, however, has nothing to do with indeterminism or determinism, or even libertarianism or compatibilism, but with how to understand the nature of the self and its role in the genesis of action. Crucially, if this problem proves unsolvable, then not only is event-causal libertarianism untenable, so also is event-causal compatibilism.

Libertarian Anarchy
Libertarian Anarchy

Author: Gerard Casey

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-07-19

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1441149619

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Political philosophy is dominated by a myth, the myth of the necessity of the state. The state is considered necessary for the provision of many things, but primarily for peace and security. In this provocative book, Gerard Casey argues that social order can be spontaneously generated, that such spontaneous order is the norm in human society and that deviations from the ordered norms can be dealt with without recourse to the coercive power of the state. Casey presents a novel perspective on political philosophy, arguing against the conventional political philosophy pieties and defending a specific political position, which he identifies as 'libertarian anarchy'. The book includes a history of the concept of anarchy, an examination of the possibility of anarchic societies and an articulation of the nature of law and order within such societies. Casey presents his specific form of anarchy, undergirded by a theory of human action that prioritises liberty, as a philosophically and politically viable alternative to the standard positions in political theory.

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear

Author: Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2020-09-15

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 1541788486

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A tiny American town's plans for radical self-government overlooked one hairy detail: no one told the bears. Once upon a time, a group of libertarians got together and hatched the Free Town Project, a plan to take over an American town and completely eliminate its government. In 2004, they set their sights on Grafton, NH, a barely populated settlement with one paved road. When they descended on Grafton, public funding for pretty much everything shrank: the fire department, the library, the schoolhouse. State and federal laws became meek suggestions, scarcely heard in the town's thick wilderness. The anything-goes atmosphere soon caught the attention of Grafton's neighbors: the bears. Freedom-loving citizens ignored hunting laws and regulations on food disposal. They built a tent city in an effort to get off the grid. The bears smelled food and opportunity. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is the sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying tale of what happens when a government disappears into the woods. Complete with gunplay, adventure, and backstabbing politicians, this is the ultimate story of a quintessential American experiment -- to live free or die, perhaps from a bear.

Anti-libertarianism
Anti-libertarianism

Author: Alan Haworth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-09-27

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 1134890710

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Free marketeers claim that theirs is the only economic mechanism which respects and furthers human freedom. Socialism, they say, has been thoroughly discredited. Most libertarians treat the state in anything other than its minimal, 'nightwatchman' form as a repressive embodiment of evil. Some reject the state altogether. But is the 'free market idea' a rationally defensible belief? Or do its proponents fail to examine the philosophical roots of their so-called freedom? Anti-libertarianism takes a sceptical look at the conceptual tenets of free market politics. Alan Haworth argues that libertarianism is little more than an unfounded, quasi-religious statement of faith: a market romance. Moreover, libertarianism is exposed as profoundly antithetical to the very freedom which it purports to advance. This controversial book is for anyone interested in the cultural and political impact of free market policies on the modern world. It will be invaluable to students and specialists of political and economic theory, social science and philosophy.

Libertarianism Today
Libertarianism Today

Author: Jacob H. Huebert

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 2010-07

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0313377545

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This engagingly written introduction examines modern libertarianism and its answers to today's most pressing issues—the economy, war, health care, and more. As government grows by leaps and bounds, libertarianism is receiving more attention than ever. Written from a contemporary perspective by an attorney and law professor who is also an award-winning journalist, Libertarianism Today provides an engaging introduction to the movement's ideas and people, serving as a jumping-off point for readers who want to know more. Beginning with the general libertarian principle that one person cannot initiate force against another, even if that person is part of the government, the book examines the implications of this principle for a wide range of contemporary issues: war, health care, personal liberties, economic policy, monetary policy, and intellectual property rights. It introduces the people behind the libertarian movement and explores the strategies—including education, activism, and litigation—libertarians are pursuing to advance their ideas. By laying out the current state of the movement, author J. H. Huebert shows how, even as it gets more mainstream-media exposure than ever, today's libertarian movement has only become more radically opposed to the Washington DC status quo.

Governing Least
Governing Least

Author: Dan Moller

Publisher: Academic

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0190863242

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This book argues that political libertarianism can be grounded in widely shared, everyday moral beliefs--particularly in strictures against shifting our burdens onto others. It also seeks to connect these philosophical arguments with related work in economics, history, and politics for a wide-ranging discussion of political economy.

Nozick's Libertarian Project
Nozick's Libertarian Project

Author: Mark D. Friedman

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2011-03-17

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1441185003

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Elaborating on and defending a rigorous, rights-based libertarianism, Mark D. Friedman here develops the seminal ideas articulated by Robert Nozick in his landmark work Anarchy, State and Utopia. Consolidating more than three decades of scholarly and popular writing to have emerged in the wake of Nozick's text, Friedman offers a 21st century defense of the minimal libertarian state. In the course of this analysis, and drawing on further insights offered by the work of F.A. Hayek, Nozick's Libertarian Project shows that natural rights libertarianism can offer convincing answers to the fundamental questions that lie at the heart of political theory. The book also rebuts many of the most common criticisms to have been levelled at this worldview, including those from left libertarians and from egalitarians such as as G.A. Cohen.

Libertarianism For Beginners
Libertarianism For Beginners

Author: Todd Seavey

Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser

Published: 2016-04-12

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1939994675

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Libertarianism isn’t about winning elections; it is first and foremost a political philosophy—a description of how, in the opinion of libertarians, free people ought to treat one another, at least when they use the law, which they regard as potentially dangerous. If libertarians are correct, the law should intrude into people’s lives as little as possible, rarely telling them what to do or how to live. A political and economic philosophy as old as John Locke and John Stuart Mill, but as alive and timely as Rand Paul, the Tea Party, and the novels of Ayn Rand, libertarianism emphasizes individual rights and calls for a radical reduction in the power and size of government. Libertarianism For Beginners lays out the history and principles of this often-misunderstood philosophy in lucid, dispassionate terms that help illuminate today’s political dialogue.

Libertarianism without Inequality
Libertarianism without Inequality

Author: Michael Otsuka

Publisher: Clarendon Press

Published: 2003-07-03

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 0191529508

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Michael Otsuka sets out to vindicate left-libertarianism, a political philosophy which combines stringent rights of control over one's own mind, body, and life with egalitarian rights of ownership of the world. Otsuka reclaims the ideas of John Locke from the libertarian Right, and shows how his Second Treatise of Government provides the theoretical foundations for a left-libertarianism which is both more libertarian and more egalitarian than the Kantian liberal theories of John Rawls and Thomas Nagel. Otsuka's libertarianism is founded on a right of self-ownership. Here he is at one with 'right-wing' libertarians, such as Robert Nozick, in endorsing the highly anti-paternalistic and anti-moralistic implications of this right. But he parts company with these libertarians in so far as he argues that such a right is compatible with a fully egalitarian principle of equal opportunity for welfare. In embracing this principle, his own version of left-libertarianism is more strongly egalitarian than others which are currently well known. Otsuka argues that an account of legitimate political authority based upon the free consent of each is strengthened by the adoption of such an egalitarian principle. He defends a pluralistic, decentralized ideal of political society as a confederation of voluntary associations. Part I of Libertarianism without Inequality concerns the natural rights of property in oneself and the world. Part II considers the natural rights of punishment and self-defence that form the basis for the government's authority to legislate and punish. Part III explores the nature and limits of the powers of governments which are created by the consensual transfer of the natural rights of the governed. Libertarianism without Inequality is a book which everyone interested in political theory should read.