I started a nation in Nation States 2 called Molinaria after the dude.
Crazy.
Well Rothbard was the one who tied up all the loose ends, made it into an all encompassing system, and drove home all of its conclusions.
But obviously it existed before him already. However it was developing rather slowly (since people didnt even necessarily know theyre developing it) so it is very hard to credit one thinker at the expense of another.
But the starter yes, could well be said to have been Molinari because he was the first to make a conclusion of the sort that Classical Liberalism shied away from. But he is really more of a “first spark” than a “founding father”. I mean he didnt think he founded anything, he didnt even call himself a libertarian.
I like that one
I read on Wikipedia (if you have a better/contrary source, please tell me) that the word libertarian was popularized by Leonard Read. Before then, a different term was usually used.
Spooner seems, to me, to be a mostly libertarian fellow. What decade did what we now call libertarianism gain prominence, even of the Spooner level, in America? Of course, if Spooner wasn’t mostly libertarian, I’d like the details.
I would have to go with Rothbard, as he was the first to produce an integrated, total theory of liberty from both the utilitarian and ethical standpoints. And he was certainly a major figure in turning the theory into a movement. There were others before him without whose contributions he probably would not have formed such a body of thought, but they lacked essential elements that would have made them true libertarians.
Leonard Read wasn’t a true libertarian? (I would like to point out that I’m even considering someone like Ron Paul a libertarian, even though he isn’t an individualist democrat*.)
*That’s my term for “anarcho-capitalist”. If anyone thinks that term has flaws, I’ll have to start another thread.
In Economic Thought Before Adam Smith, Rothbard calls Hesiod the first ‘economist’. Plato he calls a right-wing collectivist utopian (whoop). To quote him from this work in reference to this thread, “The Taoists were the world’s first libertarians, who beleived in virtually no interference by the state in economy and society”. To go a little further, "Lao Tzu… came to his penetrating conclusion: “The more artificial taboos there are in the world, the more the people are impovrished… The more that laws and regulations are given prominence, the more thieves and robbers there will be’.”. He states Chuang Tzu his follower built on his masters ideas of laissez-faire and pushed them to their logical conclusion: individualist-anarchism. Chaung Tzu was also the first to work on the idea of ‘spontaneous order’. ‘Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone’. “Taoist thought flourished for several centuries, culminating in the most determinedly anarchistic thinker, Pao Ching-yen.”
I hope that helps with your question Mr. Chambers. I reccomend you read An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought.
Good day.
An Austrian economist is not necessarily a libertarian, right? I thought some were theonomists.
You question: “Who was the “Founding Father” of libertarianism?”
A simple answer: Lao Tzu
A person could indeed understand principles of economics and also be unethical. On theonomy, I am a large fan of apotheism, that is whether there is or is not a god issues and ethics still stand.
Good luck with your studies.
Typing oops. Apatheism. Sorry.
Also; Ssu-ma Ch’ien was one of the world’s first monetary theorists. He also set forth the funtion of entreprenuership.
Been a while since I was on, I guess the edit function has been redacted?
Anarcho-capitalists are not democrats. Start a new thread.
Are you sure apatheism is the word? I thought apatheists are lazy bumps who can`t be bothered to think and are a sub-genre of atheists.
Wheres people who belive ethics are independent of existance of god assert existance of god is irrelevant and consider it a sort of a struggle to maintain that belief. So they do care, it`s just their conclusions are such. (I know they have a name starting with an A, but I forgot what it was.)
Or maybe I got it wrong? Throw me a link or two something.
Marko, I agree there must be a better word for what I mean. Is there a philogian in the house?
I then need a word to describe that facts are still the facts with or without the existence of a diety. Maybe we can create a word? Counter-theism, ethical-atheism, dietyles-argumentation, I don’t know ideas anyone?
Kind regards
So when did the movement that Leonard Read was a part of gain any degree of noticeability?
On epistemological grounds, what about the sophists? and then, Diogene Laertes?
More recently, i’d go for Max Stirner, who is the first individualist anarchist.
Locke is a classical liberal on politics and his metaphysics are anything but libertarian; of course, his concept of self-ownership is one of the most valuable contributions to libertarian thinking, IMHO it still doesn’t make him a full-blown libertarian.
Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of philosophers. Do you mean Diogenes the Cynic?
I don’t think you need to be a complete libertarian to be considered the father of it.