Difference between revisions of "What Is Wrong With Libertarianism"
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
(Created page with '* Libertarianism Is Heterogeneous There is no one "real" libertarianism: libertarianism can be left or right, rationalist or antirationalist, essentialist or pragmatist, hard…') |
|||
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
* [[Libertarians Misunderstand Rights]] | * [[Libertarians Misunderstand Rights]] | ||
| − | Natural rights are nonsense on stilts. Rights are positive: they are observable phenomena consisting of human behavior and institutions that can be studied as certainly as we study any other animal behavior. Rights are not mere claims: they exist because of enforced involuntary duties. And those involuntary duties conflict with freedoms. | + | Natural rights are nonsense on stilts. Rights are positive in the scientific sense: they are observable phenomena consisting of human behavior and institutions that can be studied as certainly as we study any other animal behavior. Rights are not mere claims: they exist because of enforced involuntary duties. And those involuntary duties conflict with freedoms. |
* [[Libertarians Misunderstand Freedom]] | * [[Libertarians Misunderstand Freedom]] | ||
| − | Libertarians use freedom as a [[glittering generality]] of [[propaganda]]. A freedom consists of an ability to do something without a human or natural obstacle. | + | Libertarians use freedom as a [[glittering generality]] of [[propaganda]]. A freedom consists of an ability to do something without a human or natural obstacle. Libertarians redefine freedom as being unobstructed by humans. Either definition of freedom prohibits obstructions by humans. If a freedom is enforced, it is a right (otherwise it is merely a claim) and the prohibition of human obstruction is an enforced involuntary duty. Every enforced freedom creates these unfreedoms. A capability is a freedom where the ability is also a right: there is an enforced involuntary duty to enable in addition to the duty not to obstruct. |
| + | |||
| + | * [[Libertarians Prefer Freedom To Capability]] | ||
| + | Adrift in the ocean. | ||
* [[Libertarians Misunderstand Liberty]] | * [[Libertarians Misunderstand Liberty]] | ||
| − | * Rights | + | * Rights, Freedoms And Liberties Cannot Be Divided Into Positive And Negative |
The Isaiah Berlin sense of positive and negative really means that positive rights are costly and negative rights are free because they rely on "doing nothing". But because all rights have costly enforceable duties, all rights are positive. Instead rights may be ranked in order of costliness, some more costly (positive) than others. | The Isaiah Berlin sense of positive and negative really means that positive rights are costly and negative rights are free because they rely on "doing nothing". But because all rights have costly enforceable duties, all rights are positive. Instead rights may be ranked in order of costliness, some more costly (positive) than others. | ||
