Download or read book The Moral Libertarian Horizon Volume 1 4 written by TaraElla and published by TaraElla. This book was released on 2020-12-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the combined version of the first four volumes of The Moral Libertarian Horizon by TaraElla.

Download or read book The Moral Libertarian Horizon written by TaraElla and published by . This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A ghost is hanging over the West: the ghost of liberalism. The ghost of only partly fulfilled yet already abandoned promises of life and liberty, of equality and fraternity. Liberalism is not quite dead yet, but nor is it truly alive. It can only watch hopelessly as far-right ultra-nationalist elements duel it out with far-left neo-Marxist tendencies, with liberty being the biggest loser of each and every battle. The right had made 'liberal' a dirty word for four decades, and now a new generation of the left is about to do the same, the two long-time enemies burying liberalism in a rare bipartisanship.Is it too late for liberalism? No, not really. But to return to life, it will need a life force. Life force comes from conviction, from moral principles, and from confidence. Only the moral libertarian idea, with its grounding in the one simple principle of morality that has been the unspoken core of liberal thought in history, will be able to resuscitate liberalism and return it to its previous vitality. Moral libertarians seek to clearly spell out their principle of Equality of Moral Agency (EMA), and vigorously apply it and defend it in the free market of ideas.

Download or read book The Moral Libertarian Horizon Volume 1 written by TaraElla and published by TaraElla. This book was released on with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does liberalism's dedication to distributing liberty equally make it a moral ideology? To answer this question, we need to first look at what liberty is. Liberty is the power an individual has over their own actions, their ability to put their ideas into action. Therefore, looking at it from a moral perspective, liberty is moral agency, i.e. the ability to act in accordance with one's moral compass. An equitable distribution of liberty therefore ensures an equitable distribution of moral agency. In this way, liberalism ensures that every individual in society has an equal share of moral agency. At this point, we need to turn to the fact that liberty (and hence moral agency) are also finite resources: if some have more, others must have less. If lords can command slaves (therefore having more liberty), slaves will not be able to act according to their own moral compass, and thus have no moral agency. Therefore, in an equal distribution of liberty (and hence moral agency), everyone can have full moral agency over their own beliefs and actions, but nobody can have moral agency over another. This, I would argue, makes liberalism the ONLY morally valid ideology. Since all human beings are morally flawed to some extent, allowing some humans to have moral agency over others is morally impermissible. Allowing a lord to command a slave as he pleases means that the slave must commit an immoral act even if the act is both objectively immoral (as in absolute truth) and known to be immoral by the slave, as long as the the act is not known to be immoral by the lord (or alternatively he is a depraved lord and does not care). This has several consequences. On an individual level, the slave would be morally responsible (at least in his conscience, and also by the laws of religion for those of us who are religious) for commiting a moral wrong, knowing that it is wrong, but not being able to resist anyway. On a societal level, it also means that those holding power can commit severe atrocities, without the moral consciences of other people acting as a brake. Which was actually how tragedies like the holocaust happened. One may be tempted to argue that, as long as we prevent having bad governments by being vigilant voters and by putting in place national and international regulations, nothing as bad will happen again. But this is naive, because the ability to judge if governments are good is limited by the fact that politicians often lie their way into power and manipulate the political landscape once in office. It is also still true that no human being can perfectly know the absolute truth of what is morally right or wrong, and therefore, if we simply let those in power decide for everyone, there will still be plenty of injustices, even if nowhere as great as the holocaust. The principle of Equal Moral Agency is the only thing that will prevent such injustices.

Download or read book The Background and Context of Moral Libertarianism written by TaraElla and published by TaraElla. This book was released on 2021-08-14 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In our moral system, the post-Enlightenment Western moral system, it is generally held that people should be entirely responsible for their own actions. Indeed, I would argue that, if this principle does not hold, our whole moral system would collapse. The Moral Libertarian principle of Equal Moral Agency for every individual is a principle derived from the individual accountability requirements of the Western moral system, and seeks to prevent lack of moral accountability. Given our individualistic moral code, I believe this is the only way to ensure morality is upheld. This mean that, compared to all other available options, liberalism is still the most morally sound path for Western democratic societies going forward, and most likely to get us to the best resolution for the controversial social issues we face. The aim of this book is to illustrate more clearly the background and context in which I derived my Moral Libertarian ideas. I believe that, to truly understand an idea, we must understand its context, so that we don't take its application out of context.

Download or read book The Moral Libertarian Perspective written by TaraElla and published by TaraElla. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compared to all other available options, liberalism is still the most morally sound path for Western democratic societies going forward, and most likely to get us to the best resolution for the controversial social issues we face. This book will make the case for this argument. The book will also talk about ways to make liberalism meaningful again, including on grounds of morality, tradition, family and community. In our moral system, the post-Enlightenment Western moral system, it is generally held that people should be entirely responsible for their own actions. Indeed, I would argue that, if this principle does not hold, our whole moral system would collapse. Hence, to be moral, in the context of our code of morality, is to be fully responsible for our own choices, our own decisions, and our own actions, and to make sure that these don’t result in negative outcomes, especially on other people. Our moral system places a particular emphasis on individual accountability and responsibility, and for our moral system to work, our culture and politics must support these notions clearly, and to the fullest extent possible. Furthermore, the individualistic nature of Western morality means that, whenever power is concentrated in a few hands, those few people will exercise their power solely according to their own sense of morality, not because it’s their fault, not because it’s the system’s fault, but because it’s what Western morality actually expects people to do. In this situation, there will inevitably be a lack of moral accountability, which means a lack of moral responsibility. The Moral Libertarian principle of Equal Moral Agency for every individual is a principle derived from the individual accountability requirements of the Western moral system, and seeks to prevent lack of moral accountability. It ensures, as much as possible, that nobody has moral agency over another person’s actions, and that every person can act according to their own moral agency. This is where I believe the true heart of liberalism lies, and it is why I say that liberalism is the best expression of morality, as it is commonly agreed upon in our shared moral system. Given our individualistic moral code, I believe this is the only way to ensure morality is upheld. Anything else would violate the basic assumptions of our moral code, which would lead to deep confusion about what constitutes morality, as interwar Europe under fascism had shown, in a very disastrous way. This book incorporates the best content from The Moral Libertarian Horizon Volumes 1, 2, 4 and 5, and is intended to provide a more complete picture on the Moral Libertarian philosophy.

Download or read book The Ethics of Liberty written by Murray N. Rothbard and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2015-07-04 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authoritative text on the libertarian political position In recent years, libertarian impulses have increasingly influenced national and economic debates, from welfare reform to efforts to curtail affirmative action. Murray N. Rothbard's classic The Ethics of Liberty stands as one of the most rigorous and philosophically sophisticated expositions of the libertarian political position. Rothbard’s unique argument roots the case for freedom in the concept of natural rights and applies it to a host of practical problems. And while his conclusions are radical—that a social order that strictly adheres to the rights of private property must exclude the institutionalized violence inherent in the state—Rothbard’s applications of libertarian principles prove surprisingly practical for a host of social dilemmas, solutions to which have eluded alternative traditions. The Ethics of Liberty authoritatively established the anarcho-capitalist economic system as the most viable and the only principled option for a social order based on freedom. This classic book’s radical insights are sure to inspire a new generation of readers.

Download or read book The Libertarian Mind written by David Boaz and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revised, updated, and retitled edition of David Boaz’s classic book Libertarianism: A Primer, which was praised as uniting “history, philosophy, economics and law—spiced with just the right anecdotes—to bring alive a vital tradition of American political thought that deserves to be honored today” (Richard A. Epstein, University of Chicago). Libertarianism—the philosophy of personal and economic freedom—has deep roots in Western civilization and in American history, and it’s growing stronger. Two long wars, chronic deficits, the financial crisis, the costly drug war, the campaigns of Ron Paul and Rand Paul, the growth of executive power under Presidents Bush and Obama, and the revelations about NSA abuses have pushed millions more Americans in a libertarian direction. Libertarianism: A Primer, by David Boaz, the longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, continues to be the best available guide to the history, ideas, and growth of this increasingly important political movement—and now it has been updated throughout and with a new title: The Libertarian Mind. Boaz has updated the book with new information on the threat of government surveillance; the policies that led up to and stemmed from the 2008 financial crisis; corruption in Washington; and the unsustainable welfare state. The Libertarian Mind is the ultimate resource for the current, burgeoning libertarian movement.

Download or read book Liberty Property and Markets written by Daniel Attas and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Recent writing on the nature of freedom has served to underline a crucial gap in the academic experience. First--and most obviously--the concept of freedom has been modernized by its application to contemporary institutions. Second, a new approach to the concept of liberty has been pioneered in the construction of new typologies of freedom. Finally, awareness of variety in concepts of freedom has been paralleled in variations in the practice of freedom. The tumultuous history of Western man may be conceptualized as the story of how freedom has become embodied. What is missing from the story is the relationship of concepts to actions.This relationship has been established for some specific notions of freedom. Many of the philosophical analyses--especially recent ones like pragmatism and existentialism--have been predicated on actual human behavior. On the other hand, many classic histories of freedom--those of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, John Bagnell Bury, Guido de Ruggiero, and Harold Laski--have traced the actual development of a definite kind of freedom.This volume contains essays prepared to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, revised in the light of discussions by Henry D. Aiken, William Ebenstein, Mark DeWolfe Howe, and David Spitz, as well as other articles, many of them growing out of the discussion either in the form of commentary or independent contributions. There are also two papers written independently (Andrew Hacker and Leonard Krieger)."--Provided by publisher.

Download or read book Arguments for Liberty written by Aaron Ross Powell and published by Cato Institute. This book was released on 2016-12-06 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two schools of thought have long dominated libertarian discussions about ethics: utilitarianism and natural rights. Those two theories are important, but they’re not the only ways people think about ethics and political philosophy. In Arguments for Liberty, you’ll find a broader approach to libertarianism. In each of Arguments for Liberty’s nine chapters a different political philosopher discusses how his or her preferred school of thought judges political institutions and why libertarianism best meets that standard. Though they end up in the same place, the paths they take diverge in fascinating ways. Readers will find in these pages not only an excellent introduction to libertarianism, but also a primer on some of the most important political and ethical theories. Assuming little or no training in academic philosophy, the essays guide readers through a continuous moral conversation spanning centuries and continents, from Aristotle in ancient Athens to twentieth-century philosopher John Rawls in the halls of Harvard. What’s the best political system? What standards should we use to decide, and why? Arguments for Liberty is a guide to thinking about these questions. It’s also a powerful, nine-fold argument for the goodness and importance of human liberty.

Download or read book The Moral Libertarian Idea written by Taraella and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-12 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A ghost is hanging over the West: the ghost of liberalism. The ghost of only partly fulfilled yet already abandoned promises of life and liberty, of equality and fraternity. Classical liberalism is not quite dead yet, but nor is it truly alive. It can only watch hopelessly as far-right elements duel it out with far-left neo-Marxist (or pseudo-Marxist) tendencies, with liberty being the biggest loser of each and every battle. The right had made 'liberal' a dirty word for four decades, and now a new generation of the left is about to do the same, the two long-time enemies burying classical liberalism in a rare bipartisanship.Is it too late for liberalism? No, not really. But to return to life, it will need a life force. Life force comes from conviction, from moral principles, and from confidence. Only the moral libertarian idea, with its grounding in the one simple principle of morality that has been the unspoken core of classical liberal thought in history, will be able to resuscitate liberalism and return it to its previous vitality. Moral libertarians seek to clearly spell out their principle of Equality of Moral Agency (EMA), and vigorously apply it and defend it in the free market of ideas.Furthermore, classical liberalism has always been about building better communities and societies too. Indeed, classical liberalism both creates the conditions required for a strong and coherent society in natural conditions of diversity, and also allows individuals to use their creativity and their moral conscience to help strengthen and improve society, by contributing their best into the free market of ideas. The liberty and equality inherent in the classical liberal tradition allows communities to be strong yet diverse in its thinking at the same time; and allows new ideas to be explored while traditions to continue to grow at the same time. Seen through this light, classical liberalism is the best foundation for community building, especially in the contemporary age. As will be explained in this book, the moral libertarian view is the best way to conceptualize and apply the values of classical liberalism in a way that adequately supports this communitarian aspect of liberalism. It is through moral libertarianism that we rediscover the true soul of liberalism, which is very far from the 'greed is good' caricature.

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Libertarianism written by Jason Brennan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-18 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Libertarians often bill their theory as an alternative to both the traditional Left and Right. The Routledge Handbook of Libertarianism helps readers fully examine this alternative without preaching it to them, exploring the contours of libertarian (sometimes also called classical liberal) thinking on justice, institutions, interpersonal ethics, government, and political economy. The 31 chapters--all written specifically for this volume--are organized into five parts. Part I asks, what should libertarianism learn from other theories of justice, and what should defenders of other theories of justice learn from libertarianism? Part II asks, what are some of the deepest problems facing libertarian theories? Part III asks, what is the right way to think about property rights and the market? Part IV asks, how should we think about the state? Finally, part V asks, how well (or badly) can libertarianism deal with some of the major policy challenges of our day, such as immigration, trade, religion in politics, and paternalism in a free market. Among the Handbook's chapters are those from critics who write about what they believe libertarians get right as well as others from leading libertarian theorists who identify what they think libertarians get wrong. As a whole, the Handbook provides a comprehensive, clear-eyed look at what libertarianism has been and could be, and why it matters.

Download or read book Libertarianism written by John Hospers and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-10-13 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LIBERTARIANISM by John Hospers The Original Book that Inspired the Worldwide Political Movement John Hospers on What Libertarianism Is: 1) No one is anyone else's master, and no one is anyone else's slave. 2) Other people's lives are not yours to dispose of. 3) No human being should be a non-voluntary mortgage on the life of another. Dr. Hospers sees these as three versions of the same absolute right of personal liberty. In other words, assuming we are talking about mentally-able individuals, no person can make their life better by reducing the liberty of another person. For the same reason that slavery is wrong, it is equally wrong to involuntarily deprive others of their time or money. The basic human rights of life and liberty cannot exist without a right to property. The benefits I create for myself are MINE, and to take them away (or to make me work for another's benefit without my consent) is wrong. RIGHTS are ONLY to be understood as involving duties of forbearance or restraint. In other words, so-and-so's right to property is nothing more than the duty that others have to refrain from taking that property for themselves. Rights belong naturally to us. Rights are not something given to us by governments. Rights are claims that we make AGAINST governments! If I have a right to benefit from my own labor, then the government is wrong to take any of those benefits from me without my consent. "The only proper role of government ... is that of the protector of the citizen against aggression by other individuals." Because governments has the role of "protector," government must possess enough force/power to protect its citizens (e.g., by having a police force and/or military and a related system for punishing or neutralizing those who practice aggression against others). Aggression against others includes unintended harms to others. Government also has a role in deciding and settling claims of harm by others. Other than providing for these legitimate functions, government has no right to tax its citizens for any purpose whatsoever. Government should intervene only in a RETALIATORY situation. The government must never INITIATE an action to create a better world -- it is not the business of government to make an advance decision about what counts as benefit. Through laws, government can prohibit various aggressive actions, but it cannot require the bringing about of supposedly beneficial ones. Government charity, social programs, public works, etc., require one person to pay for the benefits that another person will receive. However, doing this through involuntary taxation is theft of property. LIBERTARIANISM by John Hospers The POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY WHOSE TIME HAS COME "For many decades, news reports on the intellectual activities of the younger generation have been confined almost exclusively to advocates of statism and collectivism. Only recently have there appeared the first acknowledgements, in the newspapers, of a rising interest among the younger generation in political philosophy that stands in radical contrast to this authoritarian trend: Libertarianism. "Now, Professor John Hospers, Director of the School of Philosophy of the University of Southern California, has given us, in his latest book, a clear statement of the central political-economic positions of this young intellectual movement. The book is offered, not as an original work of philosophy, but rather as an attempt to delineate the major positions on which most Libertarians would agree -- and to answer many of the objections and questions with which Libertarians have to contend. "Libertarianism is very simply and clearly written and requires no technical knowledge on the part of the reader. Enjoyable, informative reading." - Nathaniel Branden, Author of THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF-ESTEEM"

Download or read book The Libertarian Idea written by Jan Narveson and published by . This book was released on 1992-10-01 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Libertarian Reader written by David Boaz and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first collection of seminal writings on a movement that is rapidly changing the face of American politics, The Libertarian Reader links some of the most fertile minds of our time to a centuries-old commitment to freedom, self-determination, and opposition to intrusive government. A movement that today counts among its supporters Steve Forbes, Nat Hentoff, and P.J. O'Rourke, libertarianism joins a continuous thread of political reason running throughout history. In The Libertarian Reader, David Boaz has gathered the writers and works that represent the building blocks of libertarianism. These individuals have spoken out for the basic freedoms that have made possible the flowering of spiritual, moral, and economic life. For all independent thinkers, this unique sourcebook will stand as a classic reference for years to come, and a reminder that libertarianism is one of our oldest and most venerable American traditions.

Download or read book Fabian Libertarianism written by Martin Cowen and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2016-04-26 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The goal of this book is to persuade the reader that there is something very wrong in the political world. The cause of the political malfunction is what we shall call Leviathan. Learn why so many societal problems are intractable. For example, how is it that Thomas Edisons great invention, the incandescent lightbulb, is outlawed in America? How is that veterans beloved of Americans are denied treatment by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) unto death? How is it that bad teachers are kept on indefinitely by a school system at full pay in isolated temporary reassignment centers (rubber rooms in New York City)? The heretofore undiscovered answer is: superorganisms having ultimate power over us. Superorganisms exist. They consist of individual human beings. Superorganisms have lives separate from the individual human beings of which they are composed. Superorganisms are epiphenomena of human social groups. Examples of superorganisms include government bureaucracies like the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, unions like the National Education Association, and corporations like General Electric. In this book, the name Leviathan is given to these superorganisms. Leviathan, as we will see, is a deadly enemy. We have a plan to defeat Leviathan, but because Leviathan is virtually immortal, in control of government education, itself a sociopath, and served, in part, by sociopaths, our road is long and difficult. We anticipate a one-hundred-years struggle. There is hope. Read this book to learn the plan. Join our fight. Help restore American freedom for our children and grandchildren.

Download or read book Libertarianism Defended written by Professor Tibor R Machan and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the publication in 1974 of Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia, libertarianism has been much discussed within political philosophy, science and economy circles. Yet libertarianism has been so strongly identified with Nozick's version of it that little attention has been devoted to other than Nozick's ideas and arguments. While Nozick's version of libertarianism has preoccupied the academic discussion Nozick himself did not respond to the many criticisms raised and yet other defenders of libertarianism have not remained silent. Jan Narveson, Loren Lomasky, Eric Mack, Douglas Rasmussen, Douglas Den Uyl and many others have contributed impressive arguments of their own in support of the libertarian idea that a political system is just when it successfully secures the rights of individuals understood within the Lockean classical liberal tradition. In this book Tibor R. Machan analyses the state of the debate on libertarianism post Nozick. Going far beyond the often cursory treatment of libertarianism in major books and other publications he examines closely the alternative non-Nozickian defenses of libertarianism that have been advanced and, by applying these arguments to innumerable policy areas in the field, Machan achieves a new visibility and prominence for libertarianism.

Download or read book Faith and Freedom written by Sven R. Larson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-07-29 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As America approaches her 250th birthday, she is also approaching a fork in the road. The choice before us is moral and boils down to two terms: liberty or social justice? We cannot have both. This book, written by a Swedish immigrant, lays out the moral case for returning America to the Christian, libertarian values that the Founding Fathers wrote into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These values guarantee liberty and opportunity, but they also require responsible citizenship in return. In understanding the latter, we can resurrect the former. By contrast, the failure to understand responsible citizenship and its critical role in defending liberty opens the door for America to irrevocably change character. Our country is already on the cusp of becoming a full-fledged egalitarian welfare state, defined not by liberty, but by the endless pursuit of social justice. As this book explains, there is a path back to freedom, one illuminated by faith, paved with practical, sensible policy reforms and traveled by people ready to exercise responsible citizenship.