> Has anyone on the list debated libertarians? What kinds of arguments
> should we expect to encounter from the other participants? What kinds of
> arguments do libertarians have problems with. Any references to studies
> articles or books would be helpful. Especially regarding privatization
> or government intervention vs libertarian style free markets. I also
> expect to hear a lot about how wonderful countries like Chile and Hong
> Kong are because they adhere to free market principles. Any info or
> ideas would be appreciated.
Oh,boy. If you are on the Marxism list, several of us recently had it out (quite politely I would add) with Chris Sciabarra an intelligent libertarian of the Austrian type. I don't know if these discussions are archived.
There are different types of libertarians; property rights, Austrians and neo-classical economists(not all nc economists are libs.)are some of them.
Property rights libs argue, following Locke in his 2nd Treatise on government, that everything follows from self-ownership. Further, property rights are absolute such that any violation of them is morally wrong.It follows that the only state that can be justified is of the "nightwatchman" variety, where all the state does is protect private property, enforce contracts and defend international borders.
Austrians and Neo-classical economists use different arguments to try and show that private enterprise does the job better than any form of public enterprise and that socialism and planning--no matter how just-- inevitably lead to political tyranny.
There are huge problems with property rights arguments. The traditional objections are: Where did property rights come from? Noone has ever seen a property right. Assigning absolute property rights makes the argument totally circular.
Austrians and Neo-classical people rely on faulty subjectivist epistemology for their theories. Planning=tyranny is an empirical question and some form of democratic planning has not been demonstrated empirically to be tyrannical or inefficient.
Classic texts: Anarchy, State and Utopia by Robert Nozick. Classic source of the property rights argument and other anti-socialist arguments.
Socialism and Human Action by Ludwig Von Mises. Austrian.
Murray Rothbard is another well known libertarian who is a kind of natural law theorist.
Jan Narveson: The Libertarian Idea. John Hospers: Libertarianism Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Freedom David Friedman: Machinery of Freedom Ayn Rand Libertarianism David Boaz (Cato Inst.) Classic Critiques:
Against Capitalism by David Schweickert Self-ownership, Equality and Freedom by G.A. Cohen Anti-Libertarianism by Alan Haworth Conservatism by Ted Honderich A Matter of Principle by Ronald Dworkin Anti-Samuelson by Marc Linder Market,State, Community by David Miller
any questions? Sam Pawlett