In general I think Stefan has atleast a basic grasp on libertarianism and I appreciate his ability to spread the fundamental ideas of voluntaryism and peaceful parenting to millions of people. However, in this video he unfortunately dismisses rights (as many do) on the grounds that they do not exist materially and that they are little more than pleas to others not to do something to oneself, or to provide to oneself something he highly prefers. I am of course paraphrasing, however this is a common misconception as to the purpose and nature of rights. He is right of course that rights do not exist in the material realm, though I dont believe any credible rights proponent has ever claimed they did...so this comes off as a bit of a straw man. However the purpose of rights are not merely to serve as vehicles to voice ones preference of treatment but rather are norms that, just like all norms, aim at mitigating inter-personal conflict and maximizing human cooperation and therefore the overall standard of living. Now does simply acknowledging these norms or rights accomplish this task in itself? No, of course not, and it would be a straw man argument for one to attempt to refute this position. Such rights or norms simply act as guides revealing which modes of conduct are more suitable for the ends of conflict mitigation and which other ones serve to undermine this goal. Even in the case that these norms or rights are not respected, they still serve the function of allowing others to determine who the criminal or aggressor is in a particular conflict, thus providing invaluable assistance to those seeking justice (Which again is rooted in mitigating interpersonal conflict and maximizing human cooperation). Of course as free market anarchists we know the only norm or rights that consistently serve these ends are private property rights, whereby only the owners of scarce goods may rightfully determine their employment or usage, and where such ownership may only be acquired via original appropriation or voluntary exchange.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 17:44:11 +0000
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