Difference between revisions of "What Is Liberty?"
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
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== Confusion of Liberties with Rights == | == Confusion of Liberties with Rights == | ||
[[What Are Rights?|Rights are liberties that are coercively defended]]: others are forced not to interfere. If you have a right to cross a bridge, your liberty is defended by law. But the important thing is that rights are created by enforcing duties on others, destroying THEIR liberties. You may want liberty to cross a bridge, and get a right to cross the bridge; but that means everybody else loses their liberty to interfere with your crossing. They have a duty to not interfere. | [[What Are Rights?|Rights are liberties that are coercively defended]]: others are forced not to interfere. If you have a right to cross a bridge, your liberty is defended by law. But the important thing is that rights are created by enforcing duties on others, destroying THEIR liberties. You may want liberty to cross a bridge, and get a right to cross the bridge; but that means everybody else loses their liberty to interfere with your crossing. They have a duty to not interfere. | ||
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| + | == Every Liberty Has Externalities == | ||
| + | Pretty much every action or inaction has externalities, things that can affect other people. Even just breathing: you consume oxygen and release heat. That sounds trivial, until you consider that we can construct circumstances where that could spell life or death for others, such as in a closed container. The liberty to homestead land has the externality that when all the land is homesteaded, there is none left for others to have the same liberty. Among other externalities having to do with the environment. For that reason, we might want to limit various liberties. | ||
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| + | == Liberties Always Conflict == | ||
| + | Most obviously, you can have a liberty to restrict other people's liberties. For example, freedom to enslave means no freedom from slavery and freedom from slavery means no freedom to enslave. Don't kid yourself that either of these are not real and desired freedoms: major wars have been fought over them. Requiring equal liberties means restriction of the liberty of those who want unequal liberties, and vice versa. | ||
== A Positive Model Of Liberty == | == A Positive Model Of Liberty == | ||
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* There might be many different opportunity costs for others, and many different reasons why they refrain from interfering. For example, the trampoline owners don't interfere because they were bribed, while others don't interfere because of the government coercion of the property system (they could be taken to court) and still others just might not care because their opportunity costs are negligible. | * There might be many different opportunity costs for others, and many different reasons why they refrain from interfering. For example, the trampoline owners don't interfere because they were bribed, while others don't interfere because of the government coercion of the property system (they could be taken to court) and still others just might not care because their opportunity costs are negligible. | ||
== Examples That Could Be Explained By This Model == | == Examples That Could Be Explained By This Model == | ||
| + | == Why We Need To Choose Which Liberties We Value == | ||
== Triadic Liberty == | == Triadic Liberty == | ||
== Positive and Negative Liberty == | == Positive and Negative Liberty == | ||
== Why Ability and Resources Are Essential to a Liberty == | == Why Ability and Resources Are Essential to a Liberty == | ||
