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Books byMark D. Friedman
Libertarian Philosophy in the Real World: The Politics of Natural Rights
Nozick’s Libertarian Project: An Elaboration and Defense
The Best of Modern Swedish Art Glass: Orrefors and Kosta 1930-1970
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Monthly Archives: March 2011
Natural Rights Libertarianism and Fraud
If pressed to sum up their political philosophy in a single sentence, many libertarians will cite the following proposition, formulated by Ayn Rand in her essay “Man’s Rights”:
A civilized society is one in which physical force is banned from human relationships–in which the government, acting as a policeman, may use force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate force.
In a second essay, “The Nature of Government,” she expresses the same essential idea in a slightly different way:
The precondition of a civilized society is the barring of physical force from social relationships–thus establishing the principle that if men wish to deal with one another, they may do so only by means of reason: by discussion, persuasion and voluntary, uncoerced agreement.
The moral stance referenced above has come to be known as the “non-aggression principle” (or”axiom”). Continue Reading »
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