The Ethics of Liberty

Front Cover
NYU Press, 2002 - Business & Economics - 308 pages
In recent years, libertarian impulses have increasingly influenced national and economic debates, from welfare reform to efforts to curtail affirmative action. Murray N. Rothbard's classicThe Ethics of Libertystands as one of the most rigorous and philosophically sophisticated expositions of the libertarian political position.What distinguishes Rothbard's book is the manner in which it roots the case for freedom in the concept of natural rights and applies it to a host of practical problems. An economist by profession, Rothbard here proves himself equally at home with philosophy. And while his conclusions are radical--that a social order that strictly adheres to the rights of private property must exclude the institutionalized violence inherent in the state--his applications of libertarian principles prove surprisingly practical for a host of social dilemmas, solutions to which have eluded alternative traditions.The Ethics of Libertyauthoritatively established the anarcho-capitalist economic system as the most viable and the only principled option for a social order based on freedom. This edition is newly indexed and includes a new introduction that takes special note of the Robert Nozick-Rothbard controversies.
 

Contents

V
3
VI
9
VII
17
VIII
21
IX
25
X
27
XI
29
XII
35
XXIV
133
XXV
149
XXVI
155
XXVII
159
XXVIII
161
XXIX
175
XXX
183
XXXI
189

XIII
45
XIV
51
XV
63
XVI
69
XVII
77
XVIII
85
XIX
97
XX
113
XXI
121
XXII
129
XXIII
131
XXXII
199
XXXIII
201
XXXIV
215
XXXV
219
XXXVI
231
XXXVII
255
XXXVIII
257
XXXIX
275
XL
295
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Page xxii - Our main conclusions about the state are that a minimal state, limited to the narrow functions of protection against force, theft, fraud, enforcement of contracts, and so on, is justified; that any more extensive state will violate persons...
Page xiv - Among the essential features of this situation is that no one knows his place in society, his class position or social status, nor does any one know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence, strength and the like.

About the author (2002)

The author of numerous books, the late Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995) was the S. J. Hall Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Academic Vice President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Hans-Hermann Hoppe is Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

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