“What is a libertarian?”
What Libertarianism Is - Stephan Kinsella.
But then I know you’ve read it, you’re the one who made me aware of it lol.
"Everyone is thick. "
There is a distinction / difference between political philosophy & personal ethics.
"It is at times such as these that I turn to Misesian utilitarism, and not to libertarianism as such. Here’s the tools. The ends are yours to decide. This could be all that any philosophy would hope to teach. "
It’s at times like these people need to go back to the basics.
“Libertarianism, then, is a philosophy seeking a policy. But what else can a libertarian philosophy say about strategy, about “policy”? In the first place, surely-again in Acton’s words-it must say that liberty is the “highest political end,” the overriding goal of libertarian philosophy. Highest political end, of course, does not mean “highest end” for man in general. Indeed, every individual has a variety of personal ends and differing hierarchies of importance for these goals on his personal scale of values. Political philosophy is that subset of ethical philosophy which deals specifically with politics, that is, the proper role of violence in human life (and hence the explication of such concepts as crime and property). Indeed, a libertarian world would beone in which every individual would at last be free to seek and pursue his own ends-to “pursue happiness,” in the felicitous Jeffersonian phrase.” - TEOL, chp 30
If anyone is going to make wise cracks about “political” end, ya’ll gonna have to do better than that.
This may help explain it further:
“How about Professor Block’s second premise, that evil is only the initiation of violence? Here I think it is possible to partially reconcile the Block and Halliday positions. It is a question of what context we are dealing with. I would agree with Block that within the context of libertarian theory, evil must be confined to the initiation of violence. On the other hand, when we proceed from libertarianism to the question of wider social and personal ethics, then I would agree with Halliday that there are many other actions which should be considered as evil: lying, for example. or deliberately failing to fulfill one’s best potential. But these are not matters about which liberty - the problem of the proper scope of violence - has anything to say. In short, qua libertarian there is nothing wrong or evil about breaking dates, being gratuitously nasty to one’s associates, or generally behaving like a cad: here not only do I join Professor Block, but I would expect Mr. Halliday and all other libertarians to do the same. On the other hand, qua general ethicist, I would join Mr. Halliday in denouncing such behavior, while Professor Block would not.”
… From one of the oldschool journal articles. Block’s recent response:
"Block: I’m shocked that I ever wrote it. I don’t think I meant it. I agree, fully, with Murray."
“Rothbardians in particular, but anyone subscribing to an objective set of ethics, cannot tolerate the notion of more than one set of ethical values.”
Ohhh, tolerance! Buzz word.
And states Hoppe (1997, 23):
"To maintain that no such thing as a rational ethic exists does not imply “tolerance” and “pluralism,” as champions of positivism such as Milton Friedman falsely claim, and moral absolutism does not imply “intolerance” and “dictatorship.” To the contrary, without absolute values “tolerance” and “pluralism” are just other arbitrary ideologies, and there is no reason to accept them rather than any others such as cannibalism and slavery. Only if absolute values, such as a human right of self-ownership exist, that is, only if “pluralism” or “tolerance” are not merely among a multitude of tolerable values, can pluralism and tolerance in fact be safeguarded.
~ 1997. “The Western State as a Paradigm: Learning from History.” in Paul Gottfried, ed., Politics and Regimes: Religion & Public Life, Vol. 30, Edison, NJ: Transaction Publishers; www.hanshoppe.com/wpcontent/uploads/publications/hoppe_western-state-paradigm-1997.pdf