Debates within libertarianism

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Libertarianism is variously defined by sources as there is no general consensus among scholars on the definition nor on how one should use the term as a historical category. Scholars generally agree that libertarianism refers to the group of political philosophies which emphasize freedom, individual liberty and voluntary association. Libertarians generally advocate a society with little or no government power.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines libertarianism as the moral view that agents initially fully own themselves and have certain moral powers to acquire property rights in external things.[1] Libertarian historian George Woodcock defines libertarianism as the philosophy that fundamentally doubts authority and advocates transforming society by reform or revolution.[2] Libertarian philosopher Roderick T. Long defines libertarianism as "any political position that advocates a radical redistribution of power from the coercive state to voluntary associations of free individuals", whether "voluntary association" takes the form of the free market or of communal co-operatives.[3] According to the American Libertarian Party, libertarianism is the advocacy of a government that is funded voluntarily and limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence.[4]

There are many philosophical disagreements among proponents of libertarianism concerning questions of ideology, values and strategy. For instance,

natural resources.[14][15][16] The main debate between the two forms of libertarianism therefore concerns the legitimacy of private property and its meaning. Most other debates remains within right-libertarianism as abortion, capital punishment, foreign affairs, LGBT rights and immigration are non-issues for left-libertarians whereas within right-libertarianism they are debated due to their divide between cultural liberal and cultural conservative
right-libertarians.

Philosophy

See also: Category:Libertarianism by form

Libertarian philosophies are generally divided on three principal questions, namely (1) by ethical theory, whether actions are determined to be moral

deontologically); (2) the legitimacy of private property; and (3) the legitimacy of the state
. Libertarian philosophy can therefore be broadly divided into eight groups based on these distinctions.

Abortion

Main article: Libertarian perspectives on abortion

An estimated 60–70% of

pro-choice do maintain that abortion becomes homicidal at some stage during pregnancy and therefore should not remain legal beyond that point.[17]

To the contrary, the Libertarian Party states that government should have no role in restricting abortion, implying opposition to any and all proposed federal or state legislation which might prohibit any method of abortion at any given stage of gestation. Groups like the Association of Libertarian Feminists and Pro-Choice Libertarians support keeping government out of the issue entirely.

On the other hand,

fundamental right if performed during the first trimester of pregnancy by virtue of an implicit constitutional right to privacy.[citation needed
]

In addition, there are the property rights perspectives[18] evictionism[19][20] and departurism[21][22][23] which allow that the unwanted fetus is a trespasser on the mother's property (her womb), but hold that this designation does not mean that the child may therefore be directly killed.[24] The former view maintains that the trespasser may only be killed indirectly as a result of eviction,[25] while the latter view upholds only non-lethal eviction during normal pregnancies.[26]

Capital punishment

Main article: Libertarian perspectives on capital punishment

Right-libertarians are divided on

death penalty. Those opposing it generally see it as an excessive abuse of state power which is by its very nature irreversible, with American libertarians possibly seeing it also in conflict with the Bill of Rights ban on "cruel and unusual punishment". Some libertarians who believe capital punishment can be just under certain circumstances may oppose execution based on practical considerations. Those who support the death penalty do so on self-defense or retributive justice
grounds.

Ethics

Main articles: Consequentialist libertarianism and Natural-rights libertarianism
See also: Non-aggression principle

There are broadly two different types of libertarianism which are based on ethical doctrines, namely

natural rights exist and from there argue that initiation of force and fraud should never take place.[27] Natural-rights libertarianism may include both right-libertarianism and left-libertarianism.[28] Consequentialist libertarians argue that a free market and strong private property rights bring about beneficial consequences, such as wealth creation or efficiency, rather than subscribing to a theory of rights or justice.[29] There are hybrid forms of libertarianism that combine deontological and consequentialist reasoning.[29]

Contractarian libertarianism holds that any legitimate authority of government derives not from the consent of the governed, but rather from contract or mutual agreement, although this can be seen as reducible to consequentialism or deontologism depending on what grounds contracts are justified.[30][31][32] Some libertarian socialists reject deontological and consequential approaches and use historical materialism to justify their political beliefs.[33]

Foreign affairs

Main article: Libertarian perspectives on foreign intervention

Libertarians are generally against any military intervention in other countries. Other libertarians are also opposed to strategic alliances with foreign countries. According to its 2016 platform, the American

foreign aid to other countries and the only wars that they support are in situations of self-defense.[34] Such libertarians generally try to explain that they are not isolationists, but non-interventionists.[35][36]

Immigration

Main article: Libertarian perspectives on immigration

Libertarians generally support

trespassing
.

Inheritance

Libertarians disagree over what to do in absence of a will or contract in the event of death and over posthumous property rights. In the event of a contract, the contract is enforced according to the property owner's wishes. Typically, right-libertarians believe that any intestate property should go to the living relatives of the deceased and that none of the property should go to the government. Others say that if no will has been made, the property immediately enters the state of nature from which anyone (save the state) may homestead it.

Intellectual property

Main article: Libertarian perspectives on intellectual property

Libertarians hold a variety of views on

intellectual protectionism
and should be abolished altogether.

Land ownership

Main article: Geolibertarianism

Following political economist and social reformer

basic income or citizen's dividend which would also function as a social safety net to replace the existing welfare system. Based on David Ricardo's law of rent, they further argue that this tax shift
would serve to boost wages.

LGBT rights

In general, libertarians oppose laws that limit the sexual freedom of adults.[37]

Limited government

Main articles:
Minarchism, and Night-watchman state

Libertarians differ on whether any government at all is desirable. Some favor the existence of governments and see them as civilly necessary while others favor stateless societies and view the state as being undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, if not intrinsically evil.[38][39]

Supporters of limited libertarian government or a

class struggle analysis of the state.[43]

Mandatory vaccination

Right-libertarians are divided over mandatory vaccination. Some oppose mandatory vaccination on the grounds of it violating a person's individual liberty and being skeptical of government authority. Others support mandatory vaccination, arguing that libertarian principles prohibit reckless behaviour that puts other people at risk. According to Voice of America, "opposition to vaccination is often couched in libertarian terms: It's my body, my choice."[44]

Natural resources

Right-libertarians such as

private ownership of all natural resources will result in a better environment as a private owner of property will have more incentive to ensure the longer term value of the property. Other libertarians such as geolibertarians or left-libertarians believe the Earth cannot legitimately be held in allodium, that usufructuary title with periodic land value capture and redistribution avoids both the tragedy of the commons and the tragedy of the anticommons
while respecting equal rights to natural resources.

Propertarianism

Main article: Propertarianism

Right-libertarian philosophies are usually strong

monopolies), provided it is brought about through non-coercive means.[45] However, there is also a minority of soft propertarian libertarian philosophies. According to this moderately left-libertarian perspective, a society based on individual liberty and equal access to natural opportunities can be achieved through proportionate compensation to others by those who claim private ownership over a greater-than-equal share of the aggregate value of natural resources, absent any improvements.[46][47][48][49]

Non-propertarian libertarian philosophies hold that liberty is the absence of hierarchy and demands the leveling of systemically coercive and exploitative power structures. On this

citizens' assemblies, trade unions and workers' councils.[55]

Race and sex

American libertarians, especially right-libertarians, are against laws that favor or harm any race or either sex. These include

collectivist
. This causes a degree of dissonance among libertarians in federal systems such as in the United States, where there is debate among libertarians about whether the federal government has the right to coerce states to change their democratically created laws.

Taxation

Some

pollution and severance fees to internalize negative externalities and curb natural resource depletion
, is not only non-distortionary and politically sustainable but also more ethically attractive than zero taxation and even required for justice in property rights.

Voluntary slavery

Libertarians generally believe that

some rights are inalienable and maintain that even permanent voluntary slavery is possible and contractually binding.[61][62] Famous libertarian Murray Rothbard
argued that libertarians seeing children as property of the parents left the platform open to sales of children as slaves, when parents needed finances, and that people entering into voluntary slavery would most likely be when there was no alternative available to pay debts, but this was not coercive as under the libertarian platform only the government could engage in coercion. Detractors maintain that there is no such thing as a morally-binding "slavery contract".

Involuntary psychiatry

Involuntary commitment, outpatient commitment, mental health guardianships and involuntary treatment, although in opposition to self-ownership and in some countries the main way of confinement and social control are issues rarely discussed by libertarians.

Thomas Szasz argues that involuntary psychiatry is incompatible with libertarianism and that Bertrand Russell, Robert Nozick, John Stuart Mill, Ayn Rand, The American Civil Liberties Union, and Friedrich von Hayek among other "went wrong" by their omission, ambiguity or direct support.[63]

Most criticism comes from fields such as sociology (such as Michel Foucault), psychiatry (such as Franco Basaglia), human rights NGOs or philosophy and public position by libertarians are often uncertain.

Fraud

There has been debate about how to deal with the problem of fraud in a libertarian society.[64][65][66][67][68]

Strategy

Non-voting

Further information:
Non-voting

Some libertarians such as

cost-benefit analysis
. Other more moderate libertarians abstain from voting to voice their perception that the current system is broken or out of touch.

Apart from principled and cynical non-voters, many libertarians interpret voting even for a suboptimal candidate or policy as an act of political self-defense aimed at minimizing rights violations.

Political alliances

Main article: Libertarian perspectives on political alliances

Until fairly recently,

Paleolibertarians have a long-standing affinity with paleoconservatives in opposing United States interventions and promoting decentralization and cultural conservatism
.

Revolution

Libertarians generally agree on the desirability of rapid and fundamental changes in power dynamics and institutional structures, but may disagree on the means by which such changes might be achieved. Orthodox right-libertarians strongly oppose violent

disloyalty and disobedience, counter-economics and subversive black markets
.

See also

References

  1. ^ Peter Vallentyne. "Libertarianism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, CSLI, Stanford University. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  2. ISBN 1551116294
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  4. ^ Duncan Watts (2002). Understanding American Government and Politics: A Guide for A2 Politics Students. Manchester, England. Manchester University Press. p. 246.
  5. ^ Joseph Déjacque, "De l'être-humain mâle et femelle–Lettre à P.J. Proudhon" (1857).
  6. ^ "[Joseph Déjacque] called himself a "social poet," and published two volumes of heavily didactic verse—Lazaréennes and Les Pyrénées Nivelées. In New York, from 1858 to 1861, he edited an anarchist paper entitled Le Libertaire, Journal du Mouvement Social, in whose pages he printed as a serial his vision of the anarchist Utopia, entitled L'Humanisphére." George Woodcock. Anarchism: a history of libertarian ideas and movements. Meridian books. 1962. p. 280.
  7. ^ Mouton, Jean Claude. "Le Libertaire, Journal du mouvement social".
  8. ^ Marshall (2009). p. 641. "The word 'libertarian' has long been associated with anarchism, and has been used repeatedly throughout this work. The term originally denoted a person who upheld the doctrine of the freedom of the will; in this sense, Godwin was not a 'libertarian', but a 'necessitarian'. It came however to be applied to anyone who approved of liberty in general. In anarchist circles, it was first used by Joseph Déjacque as the title of his anarchist journal Le Libertaire, Journal du Mouvement Social published in New York in 1858. At the end of the last century, the anarchist Sebastien Faure took up the word, to stress the difference between anarchists and authoritarian socialists".
  9. Robert Graham
    , ed. (2005). Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas. Vol. One: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE–1939). Montreal: Black Rose Books. §17.
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  11. ^ Colin Ward (2004), Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 62. "For a century, anarchists have used the word 'libertarian' as a synonym for 'anarchist', both as a noun and an adjective. The celebrated anarchist journal Le Libertaire was founded in 1896. However, much more recently the word has been appropriated by various American free-market philosophers..."
  12. Z Communications. Archived from the original
    on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2011. The term libertarian as used in the US means something quite different from what it meant historically and still means in the rest of the world. Historically, the libertarian movement has been the anti-statist wing of the socialist movement. Socialist anarchism was libertarian socialism.
  13. ^ "Who is a libertarian?"[permanent dead link]. Russell, Dean, 1955. "Many of us call ourselves 'liberals.' And it is true that the word 'liberal' once described persons who respected the individual and feared the use of mass compulsions. But the leftists have now corrupted that once-proud term to identify themselves and their program of more government ownership of property and more controls over persons. As a result, those of us who believe in freedom must explain that when we call ourselves liberals, we mean liberals in the uncorrupted classical sense. At best, this is awkward and subject to misunderstanding. Here is a suggestion: Let those of us who love liberty trade-mark and reserve for our own use the good and honorable word 'libertarian'".
  14. ISBN 0816052247
    . In the modern world, political ideologies are largely defined by their attitude towards capitalism. Marxists want to overthrow it, liberals to curtail it extensively, conservatives to curtail it moderately. Those who maintain that capitalism is a excellent economic system, unfairly maligned, with little or no need for corrective government policy, are generally known as libertarians.
  15. ISBN 978-1610165013
    . One gratifying aspect of our rise to some prominence is that, for the first time in my memory, we, 'our side,' had captured a crucial word from the enemy... 'Libertarians'... had long been simply a polite word for left-wing anarchists, that is for anti-private property anarchists, either of the communist or syndicalist variety. But now we had taken it over...
  16. ^ Fernandez, Frank (2001). Cuban Anarchism. The History of a Movement. Sharp Press. p. 9[permanent dead link]. "Thus, in the United States, the once exceedingly useful term 'libertarian' has been hijacked by egotists who are in fact enemies of liberty in the full sense of the word."
  17. ^ "Ask Dr. Ruwart". Advocates for Self-Government. Archived December 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  18. SSRN 1889452
    . We advocate a liberty and private property rights approach to the issue of abortion.
  19. ^ Block, Walter (2011B). "Evictionism is Libertarian; Departurism is Not: Critical Comment on Parr" (PDF). Libertarian Papers. 3 (36).
  20. ^ Block, Walter (2013). "Rejoinder to Parr on Evictionism and Departurism". Journal of Peace, Prosperity & Freedom. 2: 125–138.
  21. ^ Parr, Sean (2011). "Departurism and the Libertarian Axiom of Gentleness" (PDF). Libertarian Papers. 3 (34).
  22. ^ Parr, Sean (2013). "Departurism Redeemed" (PDF). Journal of Peace, Prosperity & Freedom. 2: 109–123.
  23. ^ Parr, Sean (2020). "Departurism: Gentleness and Practical Consistency in Trespasses Inside and Outside the Womb" (PDF). The Christian Libertarian Review. 3: 59–102.
  24. ^ Block, Walter; Kinsella, Stephan; Whitehead, Roy (2006). "The Duty to Defend Advertising Injuries Caused by Junk Faxes: An Analysis of Privacy, Spam, Detection and Blackmail" (PDF). Whittier Law Review. 27 (4): 945. The woman who no longer wishes to 'house' the fetus within her body is under no obligation to do so. She may evict this interloper from her 'premises.' She must do so in the gentlest manner possible, for the trespasser in this case is certainly not guilty of mens rea.
  25. ^ Block, Walter (2011A). "Response to Wisniewski on Abortion, Round Two" (PDF). Libertarian Papers. 3 (4): 2. The 'gentlest manner possible' in this case requires that the mother notify the authorities to see if they will take over responsibilities for keeping alive this very young human being. However, if the 'gentlest manner possible' implies the death of this very young human being, then so be it: the mother still has that right.
  26. ^ Parr, Sean (2020). "Departurism: Gentleness and Practical Consistency in Trespasses Inside and Outside the Womb" (PDF). The Christian Libertarian Review. 3: 65. It is only the lethal (or otherwise debilitating) eviction of a fetus during a normal pregnancy that departurism views as discordant with gentleness and, thus, a violation of the NAP.
  27. ^
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  28. ^ Mark Bevir (2010). Encyclopedia of Political Theory. SAGE Publications. p. 811.
  29. ^ a b Jonathan Wolff. "Libertarianism, Utility, and Economic Competition" (PDF). Virginia Law Review. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  30. ^ "Contractarianism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, California. April 4, 2007.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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  33. ^ B. Franks (2003). "Direct action ethic" (PDF). Anarchist Studies. 11 (1): 13–41, especially pp. 24–25.
  34. ^ "2016 Platform".
  35. ^ "Libertarian Gary Johnson Clarifies Foreign Policy Stances".
  36. ^ "Time for a Rethink?: Libertarians and Foreign Policy"[usurped].
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  39. ^ Carl Slevin (2003). "Anarchism". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Ed. Iain McLean and Alistair McMillan. Oxford University Press.
  40. ^ Randal G. Holcombe. "Government: Unnecessary but Inevitable" (PDF). The Independent Review. 8 (3): 325–342 at pp. 326–328 (armed forces), 330–331 (market failure in protective services), 332–333 (police). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-07-05. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
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  43. ^ Lewis Call (2002). Postmodern anarchism. Lanham, Maryland. Lexington Books. pp. 66–68.
  44. ^ Farivar, Masood (2021-08-04). "Why Some Libertarians Support Vaccine Mandates". Voice of America. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
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  46. ^ a b Peter Vallentyne (September 5, 2002). "Libertarianism". In Edward N. Zalta (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2009 ed.). Stanford, California: Stanford University. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
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  51. ^ Paul Zarembka (2007). Transitions in Latin America and in Poland and Syria. Emerald Group Publishing. p. 25
  52. ^ Daniel Guerin (2011) [1970]. Anarchism: From Theory to Practice [originally published as French: Anarchisme, de la doctrine à l'action] reprinted online: libcom.org [first published in English: New York: Monthly Review Press]. §1 sub-§"A Matter of Words". "At the end of the century in France, Sebastien Faure took up a word originated in 1858 by one Joseph Dejacque to make it the title of a journal, Le Libertaire. Today the terms "anarchist" and "libertarian" have become interchangeable. Some contemporary anarchists have tried to clear up the misunderstanding by adopting a more explicit term: they align themselves with libertarian socialism or communism or as a synonym for anarchism".
  53. ^ Geoffrey Ostergaard (1991). "Anarchism". Limited A Dictionary of Marxist Thought. Blackwell Publishing. p. 21.
  54. ^ Noam Chomsky, Carlos Peregrín Otero (2004). Language and Politics. AK Press. p. 739.
  55. ISBN 978-1902593920
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  56. ^ Murray Rothbard (November 1994). "Big Government Libertarians".
  57. ^ Charles Murray (1997). "What it means to be a Libertarian" Archived 2008-09-06 at the Wayback Machine. Cato Institute Journal.
  58. ^ "2008 Platform".
  59. logically consistent
    , must urge zero crime, not a small amount of it. Any crime is anathema for the libertarian. Any government, no matter how 'nice,' must therefore also be rejected by the libertarian".
  60. ^ Murray Rothbard (16 January 2007), A Crusoe Social Philosophy
  61. ^ "Toward a Libertarian Theory of Inalienability: A Critique of Rothbard, Barnett, Smith, Kinsella, Gordon, and Epstein".
  62. ^ Casey, G.(2011), "Can You Own Yourself?", Analysis and Metaphysics, Vol. 10, pp. 60-66. https://researchrepository.ucd.ie/entities/publication/d53b4dab-f934-41a4-81c2-e73ad97b9865/details
  63. ^ kanopiadmin (2014-07-30). "Faith in Freedom: Libertarian Principles and Psychiatric Practices, by Thomas Szasz". Mises Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
  64. ^ Child, J. 1994. Can libertarianism sustain a fraud standard? Ethics 104: 722–738. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/293652?journalCode=et
  65. ^ Benjamin Ferguson. "Can libertarians get away with fraud?" Economics and philosophy : 165-184. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/economics-and-philosophy/article/can-libertarians-get-away-with-fraud/3324B0979DFF2E87514B8172240BA8B3
  66. ^ Steiner Hillel. "Asymmetric information, libertarianism, and fraud" Review of social economy : 94-107. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00346764.2019.1602280
  67. ^ Dominiak, Łukasz, and Tate Fegley. 2022. "Contract Theory, Title Transfer, and Libertarianism". Diametros 19 (72):1-25. https://diametros.uj.edu.pl/diametros/article/view/1800
  68. ^ Slutskiy, Pavel. "Fraudulent advertising: A mere speech act or a type of theft?" Libertarian Papers, vol. 8, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 109+. http://libertarianpapers.org/author/pavelslutskiy/

Further reading

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