The Ethics of Liberty

1982 book by Murray Rothbard

The Ethics of Liberty

Paperback cover

Author| Murray N. Rothbard
Language| English
Subject| Liberty
Published|

* 1982 (Humanities Press)
* 1998 (New York University Press)

Publication place| United States
Media type| Print (Hardcover & Paperback) & e-book, audio-CD
Pages| 336 (Online e–book edition)
ISBN| 0391023713 (Paperback edition)
OCLC| 7813705

Dewey Decimal

| 323.44/01 19
LC Class| JC585 .R69 1982

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Literature

* The Anarchist Cookbook
* Anarchy, State, and Utopia
* The Betrayal of the American Right
* The Case Against Education
* Civil Disobedience
* Conceived in Liberty
* The Creature from Jekyll Island
* Defending the Undefendable
* The Discovery of Freedom
* End the Fed
* The Ethics of Liberty
* For a New Liberty
* Free to Choose
* The Future and Its Enemies
* The God of the Machine
* It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand
* Liberty
* The Machinery of Freedom
* Man, Economy and State
* The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
* The Mainspring of Human Progress
* The Market for Liberty
* The Myth of the Rational Voter
* No, They Can't
* No Treason
* New Libertarian Manifesto
* Our Enemy, the State
* The Problem of Political Authority
* Progress and Poverty
* Protection or Free Trade
* Radicals for Capitalism
* Seeing Like a State
* To Serve and Protect
* The Unconstitutionality of Slavery

See also

* American militia movement
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* Cowen
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* Jacobs
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* Koch (Charles)
* Koch (David)
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* v
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The Ethics of Liberty is a 1982 book by American philosopher and economist Murray N. Rothbard,[1] in which the author expounds a libertarian political position.[2] Rothbard's argument is based on a form of natural law ethics,[3] and makes a case for anarcho-capitalism.[4]

## Summary

[edit]

The Ethics of Liberty is divided into five parts,[5] although a previous edition lacked the fifth.[4] Part I is an introduction, which explains the outlines of natural law theory in general and defends it briefly against some objections. Part II is the substance of the work itself, setting forth Rothbard's ethics regarding the use of force. Part III applies his ethical theories to the State, which he viewed as "the inherent enemy of liberty and, indeed, of genuine law". Part IV offers brief reviews of alternative political theories developed by Mises, Hayek, Berlin, and Nozick.[4] Part V attempts to set forth a theory of strategy of how to move from the present system to a libertarian anarcho-capitalist society.[5]

Hans-Hermann Hoppe's Introduction to the 1998 edition of the book says that it "explains the integration of economics and ethics via the joint concept of property; and based on the concept of property, and in conjunction with a few general empirical (biological and physical) observations or assumptions, Rothbard deduces the corpus of libertarian law, from the law of appropriation to that of contracts and punishment."[6] Hoppe writes that The Ethics of Liberty was Rothbard's second magnum opus, the other being Man, Economy, and State (1962).[7]

## Reception

[edit]

Reception of the book has been positive in libertarian circles. Many praise the book for its incisive analysis of natural law and its practical applications.[independent source needed] Libertarian commentator Sheldon Richman says: "The Ethics of Liberty is a great book that deserves the attention of anyone interested in the good society and human flourishing."[8]

The philosopher Matt Zwolinski criticized the book, writing that "Rothbard's discussion of self-ownership in chapter six rests on a fundamental confusion between descriptive and normative claims."[9]

The philosopher John Hospers wrote a critique containing his various thoughts and criticisms of the book immediately after its publication.[10]

His ambiguous stance on the deceptions and frauds described in the book later gave rise to much debate.[11][12][13]

> One can also argue that whether the sale is a legal offense depends upon whether Ethan knew the truth and intentionally exaggerated the qualities of his product: did he intentionally lie, or did he make an honest mistake? Does it matter? Rothbard would probably say no. Consider again his remark: “Surely legality or illegality should depend not on the motivation of the actor, but on the objective nature of the act. If an action is objectively non-invasive, then it should be legal regardless of the benevolent or malicious intentions of the actor” (Rothbard 1982, p. 121).

> — PAVEL SLUTSKIY(2016), FRAUDULENT ADVERTISING:, pp.112-113[14]

## Release history

[edit]

* Humanities Press. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: 1982. Hardcover. ISBN 0391023713.
* New York University Press. New York, 1998. Hardcover. ISBN 0814775063.
* With a new introduction by Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Audiobook / full text available.
* New York University Press. New York, 2003. Paperback. ISBN 0814775594.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Rothbard, Murray N. (1982). The ethics of liberty. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press. ISBN 0-391-02371-3. OCLC 7813705.
2. ^ Richman, Sheldon (1998-12-01). "The Ethics of Liberty | Sheldon Richman". Foundation for Economic Education. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
3. ^ Richman, Sheldon (2014-05-11). "Rothbard's The Ethics of Liberty: Still Worthy After All These Years". Reason.com. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
4. ^ a b c "Classic Book Review | The Ethics of Liberty, by Murray N. Rothbard". The Independent Institute. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
5. ^ a b Rothbard, Murray N. (1998). The ethics of liberty. New York. ISBN 0-8147-7506-3. OCLC 38249400.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
6. ^ Hoppe, Hans-Hermann (2006-12-18). "Introduction to The Ethics of Liberty". Mises Institute. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
7. ^ kanopiadmin (2014-08-18). "The Ethics of Liberty | Murray N. Rothbard". Mises Institute. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
8. ^ "TGIF: Rothbard's The Ethics of Liberty: Still Worthy after All These Years". Future of Freedom Foundation. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
9. ^ Zwolinski, Matt (4 October 2012). "rothbards-second-argument-for-self-ownership". Bleeding Heart Libertarians. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
10. ^ Hospers, J (1982). "Rothbard's liberty reviewed". The Freeman. 32 (8): 468–85\. Archived from the original on 2025-01-15.468-85&rft.date=1982&rft.aulast=Hospers&rft.aufirst=J&rft_id=https://fee.org/articles/rothbards-liberty-reviewed/&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:The+Ethics+of+Liberty" class="Z3988">
11. ^ Child, James W. (1994). Can libertarianism sustain a fraud standard? Ethics 104 (4):722-738. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/293652?journalCode=et
12. ^ Slutskiy, Pavel. "Fraudulent advertising: A mere speech act or a type of theft?" Libertarian Papers, vol. 8, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 109+. https://libertarianpapers.org/fraudulent-advertising-mere-speech-act-type-theft/
13. ^ Friedman, M. D. (2014). Libertarian Philosophy in the Real World: The Politics of Natural Rights. UK: Bloomsbury Publishing. p.26-27
14. ^ Slutskiy, Pavel. "Fraudulent advertising: A mere speech act or a type of theft?" Libertarian Papers, vol. 8, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 112-113. https://libertarianpapers.org/fraudulent-advertising-mere-speech-act-type-theft/

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Anarcho-capitalism

Origins|

* Aristotelianism
* Austrian school of economics
* Marginalism
* School of Salamanca
* Subjective theory of value
* Objectivism
* Classical liberalism
* French Liberal School
* Homestead principle
* Labor theory of property
* Physiocracy
* Individualist anarchism

Concepts|

* Anti-statism
* Civil rights
* Corporate governance
* Counter-economics
* Decentralization
* Departurism
* Deregulation
* Economic liberalism
* Evictionism
* Free market
* Free-market roads
* Free trade
* Freedom of contract
* Individualism
* Jurisdictional arbitrage
* Laissez-faire
* Land tenure
* Market anarchism
* Natural law
* Non-aggression principle
* Polycentric law
* Private defense (Army (Company / list), Intelligence, Investigator, Police, Security)
* Private property
* Privatization
* Propertarianism
* Property rights
* Right to property
* Self-ownership
* Spontaneous order
* Title-transfer theory of contract
* Voluntaryism

People|

* Bruce L. Benson
* Walter Block
* Bryan Caplan
* Gerard Casey
* Anthony de Jasay
* David D. Friedman
* Hans-Hermann Hoppe
* Michael Huemer
* Stephan Kinsella
* Nick Land
* Michael Malice
* Javier Milei
* Robert P. Murphy
* Wendy McElroy
* Lew Rockwell
* Murray Rothbard
* Joseph Salerno
* Jeffrey Tucker
* Tom Woods
* Curtis Yarvin

Works|

* The Market for Liberty (1970)
* For a New Liberty (1973)
* The Machinery of Freedom (1973)
* Defending the Undefendable (1976)
* The Ethics of Liberty (1982)
* To Serve and Protect (1998)
* Democracy: The God That Failed (2001)
* The Myth of the Rational Voter (2007)
* The Voluntary City (2002)
* The Problem of Political Authority (2012)

Issues|

* Abortion
* Anarchism
* Capital punishment
* Criticism
* Foreign affairs
* Immigration
* Inheritance
* Intellectual property
* Internal debates
* LGBT rights
* Minarchism
* Objectivism
* Political parties
* Politics
* Theories of law

Related topics|

* Accelerationism
* Agorism
* Paleo-libertarianism
* Right-libertarianism
* Libertarianism in the United States
* Left-libertarianism

* Category

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Murray Rothbard

Books|

* Man, Economy, and State (1962)
* The Panic of 1819 (1962)
* America's Great Depression (1963)
* What Has Government Done to Our Money? (1963)
* Power and Market (1970)
* For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto (1973)
* Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays (1974)
* Conceived in Liberty (1975–79)
* The Ethics of Liberty (1982)
* The Mystery of Banking (1983)
* The Case Against the Fed (1994)
* An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (1995)
* A History of Money and Banking in the United States (2002)
* The Complete Libertarian Forum (2006)
* Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought (Complete, 1965–1968) (2007)
* The Betrayal of the American Right (2007)

Miscellaneous|

* Anarcho-capitalism
* Center for Libertarian Studies
* The Libertarian Forum
* The Review of Austrian Economics

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