Preface
This is a brief introduction to the philosophy of liberty also dubbed classical liberalism and libertarianism in the literature of political philosophy the political outlook that is associated with such thinkers as John Locke, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand and others. The best-known academic philosophical exponent of this view was the late Robert Nozick, of Harvard University, in his book Anarchy, State, and Utopia.
After a longish introduction the rest of the essays discuss certain central issues in libertarianism and the book ends with some brief and thus mainly suggestive thoughts about ways in which the natural rights variety of libertarianism addresses a variety of issues.
It has been pointed out to me over my career that libertarianism may be better defended on utilitarian grounds than the ones I deploy. That is to say, it is good to respect and protect individual liberty because that way the highest values of human life will be best secured and promoted.
Unfortunately, sometimes this is true but not always at times free men and women do not secure and promote what is best for them. They may be lazy, careless, and even reckless. So, being free doesn t guarantee happiness. It is for this reason that some prominent libertarians distinguish themselves from utilitarians the late Robert Nozick is most notable for this. The utilitarian typically will deploy force or even become a statist so as to secure the greatest good for all, whereas the libertarian holds that individual rights to life, liberty and property are unalienable, inviolate, even if this risks occasional setbacks on the front of promoting certain values.
Of course, if respecting the rights to life, liberty and property actually promoted human unhappiness these rights could not be defended. But that s not the issue. What is at stake is whether a principled, rights- based defense of libertarianism is sound, rather than one that requires showing, in each case where a public policy decision needs to be made, that liberty will assure the promotion of happiness. In my view the former approach is correct and so I do not think, for example, that whether or not gun control laws ought to be enacted needs to be debated every week, month or even year, based on the latest statistics as to whether places with such laws reduce or increase crime.
So, we have in these brief essays discussions of what libertarianism means and why it is, beyond a reasonable doubt, the best political system.
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