Murray Rothbard wrote The Ethics of Liberty in 1982 as a full moral theory of the ethical considerations libertarianism requires and what these considerations would prevent the state from doing. This week we’re analyzing the philosophical framework he lays out in the first part of Ethics.

We talk about the difference between natural law and positive law, the is-ought problem, Rothbard’s views on utilitarianism, and what Rothbard thought the task of political philosophy was. What is the purpose of humanity? What is essential to human nature?

This discussion is continued in this followup Free Thoughts episode on part two of The Ethics of Liberty.

Show Notes and Further Reading

Murray Rothbard’s The Ethics of Liberty (1982).

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Rothbard's Ethics of Liberty, Part 1