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This book argues that political libertarianism can be grounded in widely shared, everyday moral beliefs--particularly in strictures against shifting our burdens onto others. It also seeks to connect these philosophical arguments with related work in economics, history, and politics for a wide-ranging discussion of political economy.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Part I: Property
- Part II: Markets
- Part III: History
- Part IV: Theory and Practice
- Appendices
- Appendix A: Utilitarianism as Self-deception
- Appendix B: Victim-blaming and Moral Modus Tollens
- Works Cited
About the author
Dan Moller is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland. His previous work has investigated such topics as love and death, drunkenness, and the boring.
Summary
This book argues that political libertarianism can be grounded in widely shared, everyday moral beliefs--particularly in strictures against shifting our burdens onto others. It also seeks to connect these philosophical arguments with related work in economics, history, and politics for a wide-ranging discussion of political economy.
Additional text
This is a masterful work. It may even be a masterpiece. It does everything and does it well. It should be read right up alongside Rawls's theory of justice, and if this books fails to radically change the conversation in political philosophy, that would amount to a condemnation of the field, not the book. Moller has produced a comprehensive defense of classical liberal thought, one that deftly integrates ideas from ethics, political theory, metaethics, epistemology, metaphysics, sociology, economics, and history. He understands the critics' arguments better than they do, and has powerful and often decisive answers to all of their concerns. The book defends classical liberal ideas, but it is not ideological. Orthodox libertarians will find plenty of deep and difficult challenges to their own positions ... This is a great and important book.
