Explaining Libertarianism: Some Philosophical Arguments - Softcover

Lester, J.C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 190868450X ISBN 13: 9781908684509

Publisher: University of Buckingham Press, 2014

Synopsis

Explaining Libertarianism: four theses:

1. Interpersonal liberty requires an explicit, pre-propertarian, purely factual, theory.

2. Liberty is and need only be morally desirable in systematic practice, not in every logically possible case. In practice, there is no clash between the two main moral contenders: rights and consequences.

3. Nothing can ever justify, support or ground any theory of liberty or its applications because it is logically impossible to transcend assumptions. Theories can only be explained, criticised and defended within conjectural frameworks.

4. The state is inherently authoritarian and also negative-sum. It reduces welfare overall, with the losses compounding over time. Libertarian anarchic order is the positive-sum solution to illiberal political chaos.

J C Lester is a philosopher of libertarianism. He has written widely on the subject in books, articles and dialogues. His solution to the crucial philosophical problem of interpersonal liberty provides an explicit theory of liberty and explains how its application entails self-ownership and external property, and relates to all other interpersonal matters.

About this title

Product Description

Liberty is so supremely important to the entire human world; it seems desirable to try to put four main tenets as clearly and concisely as the philosophical complexity of the subject will allow: (1) Interpersonal liberty requires an explicit, pre-propertarian, and purely factual, theory. (2) Liberty is and need only be morally desirable in systematic practice, not in every logically possible case. In practice, there is no clash between the two main moral contenders: rights and consequences. (3) It is logically impossible to justify, ground, or support any theory of liberty or its applications. Theories can only be explained, criticized, and defended within conjectural frameworks. (4) The state is inherently authoritarian and also negative-sum. It reduces welfare overall, with the losses compounding over time. Libertarian anarchic order is the positive-sum solution to illiberal political chaos."

Review

One typical snippet from this extremely interesting and trenchant book is this: There is no rich libertarian problem . But there is a confused-socialist problem. The problems that so many authors purport to find in libertarianism are problems in those authors ill-considered formulations of what they claim to be criticizing. Lester straightens them out, and in the process shows that the alleged objections aren t objections at all. ...it s rewarding reading. --Jan Narveson

J C Lester wrote the ground-breaking libertarian book Escape from Leviathan, which expounds and defends the non-normative conjecture that interpersonal liberty, general welfare, and market anarchy are compatible. In this new book, Lester subjects various accounts of libertarianism to a thorough philosophical dissection and also confronts some of his critics in a clear, engaging, and cogent manner. This shows the power of his combination of critical rationalism and his own theory of libertarianism. --Ray Scott Percival

J C Lester is the most acute contemporary thinker on the fundamentals of libertarian philosophy. In the now-classic Escape from Leviathan, he shook libertarian theory loose from traditional assumptions. His iconoclastic claim that liberty can and must be theorized independently of self-ownership and property and yet implies them in practice has proved to be remarkably robust and fecund. In this new work, Lester dispatches his theoretical opponents with all the verve and ruthlessness of Sabatini s Scaramouche. --David Ramsay Steele

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Buckingham Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 190868450X
• ISBN 13: 9781908684509
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216