What'snotwrong with libertarianism: Reply to Friedman

Libertarianism and Legitimacy : a Reply to Huebert

IT IS OBVIOUS FROM his review of my book that J.H. Huebert holds me in genuine high esteem. This saddens him all the more for, in his view, I have squandered my talents on so unworthy a topic as Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty, which he characterizes as “an unfortunate waste of talent for a powerful mind such as Randy Barnett’s” (p. 108). While there is much that I d...

Authentic Gettier cases: a reply to Starmans and Friedman.

Do laypeople and philosophers differ in their attributions of knowledge? Starmans and Friedman maintain that laypeople differ from philosophers in taking 'authentic evidence' Gettier cases to be cases of knowledge. Their reply helpfully clarifies the distinction between 'authentic evidence' and 'apparent evidence'. Using their sharpened presentation of this distinction, we contend that the argu...

Taking Article III Seriously: A Reply to Professor Friedman

More Conservative Libertarianism

For many libertarians, the thesis of self-ownership is the foundation of their political philosophy. Natural rights to life, liberty, and propertyÑthe protection of which is, according to the libertarian, governmentÕs sole legitimate functionÑderive from self-ownership, in particular oneÕs ownership of his body and its parts, of his capacities and labor, and, by extension, of whatever he can ac...

Libertarianism and circumcision.

Despite the millenniums-old tradition in Abrahamic circles of removing the foreskin of a penis at birth, the involuntary and aggressive practice of circumcision must not be made an exception to the natural, negative right to self-ownership-a birthright which should prevent a parent from physically harming a child from the moment of birth going forward. This paper will present a natural rights a...