I have seen many libertarians here who criticize Rothbard’s universal application of the NAP and claim that it leads to silly or monstrous conclusions. Doesn’t that basically give justification to anti-wage labor anarchists and whatnot. Oh we like liberty, but employment is just too cruel. This is like Republicans claiming that taxes are too much. After all, libertarian theory is ultimately based on ethics, not some pragmatic considerations of economic efficiency or output.
This, at least in my opinion, is much more important.
While “every x is y” may be contradicted by “some x is not y,” it does not follow from “some x is not y” that “no x is y.”
Just out of interest, could you quote and/or link to these people?
the recent thread about rothbard’s view on abortion had one.
people who make such arguments are basicly not libertarians but pragmatists. the core of idea is not liberty but “getting the job done”. they simply believe that liberty is more productive/efficient approach. so property rights is not really about rights but an institution contrived for economic growth.