Libertarianism From the Ground Up

Source: Reason
by Matt Zwolinski

“Arguments for libertarianism typically take two forms. Some libertarians base their creed on natural rights — the idea that each individual has an inborn right to self-ownership, or freedom from aggression, or whatever — and proceed to argue that only a libertarian political regime is compatible with those rights. Others take a consequentialist approach, claiming libertarianism is the best system because it produces the best results, defined according to some philosophical conception of the good. Libertarians have been making these arguments for the last 170 years or so …. Once in a while, however, an argument opens a genuinely different path. John Hasnas, a legal scholar at Georgetown University, has been clearing such a path for a while now, and the chapters in his new book, Common Law Liberalism, have all been previously published elsewhere. But brought together in one volume, these essays set forth an intriguing, novel, and highly promising approach to thinking about a free society.” (for publication 01/25)

https://reason.com/2024/11/30/libertarianism-from-the-ground-up/