libertarianism
About us
An open, user owned community for the general disscussion of the libertarian philosophy.
- Libertarianism is the belief that each person has the right to live his life as he chooses so long as he respects the equal rights of others.
- Libertarians defend each person’s right to life, liberty, and property.
- In the libertarian view, voluntary agreement is the gold standard of human relationships.
- If there is no good reason to forbid something (a good reason being that it violates the rights of others), it should be allowed.
- Force should be reserved for prohibiting or punishing those who themselves use force.
Most people live their own lives by that code of ethics. Libertarians believe that that code should be applied consistently, even to the actions of governments, which should be restricted to protecting people from violations of their rights. Governments should not use their powers to censor speech, conscript the young, prohibit voluntary exchanges, steal or “redistribute” property, or interfere in the lives of individuals who are otherwise minding their own business.
Source: https://www.libertarianism.org/essays/what-is-libertarianism
Rules
1. Stay on topic
We are a libertarian community. There are no restrictions regarding different stances on the political spectrum, but all posts should be related to the philosophy of libertarianism.
2. Be polite to others and respects each others opinions.
Be polite to others and respects each others opinions. We don't want any form of gatekeeping or circlejerk culture here.
3. Stay constructive and informational
In general, all types of contributions are allowed, but the relevance to this community must always be evident and presented openly by the contributor. Posts that do not meet these requirements will be removed after a public warning. Also remember to cite you sources!
4. Use self-moderation measures first before reporting.
This community is fundamentally built upon freedom of speech. Since everyone understands libertarianism differently and we do not want to exclude any kind of content a priori, we appeal to the individual users to block/mute posts or users who do not meet their requirements. Please bear this in mind when filing a report
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This is interesting, but it's all based on terms that have never been proven to exist in reality via logical analysis. If there were a solid objective theory of rights existing outside of legal structures, it would make for a much more satisfying read.
Also, Ellerman's arguments regarding slavery from a libertarian perspective never bring up what is credited within libertarianism as the main source of natural/human rights to begin with, individual sovereignty. If an individual is truly sovereign, then by definition anyone can emancipate themselves at any time regardless of any previously agreed upon contact. That's literally what sovereign means, supreme or ultimate, trumping everything else.
I like your reasonig pal :)
@PropaGandalf, what is your take on the article's argument?
I can't respond to @minnix's lemmy account, so I will put my response here to the second half of their post.
The traditional libertarian stories that are claimed to rule out self-sale contracts are addressed in:
https://www.ellerman.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Philmore-1982.scan_.pdf
The theory of inalienable rights is what rules out these contract for all coherent classical liberals. Notably, the set of ruled out contracts includes the employer-employee contract
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