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On Desert and the Glass Ceiling
Wed, Sep 17 2008 11:03 PM

So I've been thinking a little about Hayek's point that there's nothing about an overall state of affairs which arises from the decentralized actions of individuals in a market economy which could coherently be an "injustice." As I had said, I agree with Hayek, and I've been accordingly trying to think of a way to understand the concept... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Equality, Opportunity

Away From Distributive Justice, Towards Collective Responsibility
Sat, Aug 30 2008 2:52 AM

Here's another cool Hayek quote, from chapter 5 of his New Studies in Philosophy, Politics, Economics and the History of Ideas , entitled "The Atavism of Social Justice": "...there can be no distributive justice where no one distributes. Justice has meaning only as a rule of human conduct, and no conceivable rules for the conduct of individuals... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Equality, Economics, Collective Duties

Law and the Knowledge Problem, a First Glance
Thu, Aug 28 2008 10:05 PM

Update at the bottom of the post Here's an interesting quote from Hayek's essay, "The Results of Human Action but not of Human Design," from his book, Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics : "...the natural law concept against which modern jurisprudence reacted was the perverted rationalist conception which interpreted the law of... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Economics

Three Different Ways of Using Force
Sat, Aug 23 2008 2:43 PM

So here's the idea: there are at least three different ways that libertarians generally think of coercive force, and I think they've been harmed by treating them as if they were essentially the same sort of thing. The first kind of coercive "force" is the use of someone else's property without their permission, or in direct defiance of their... Read More...

by Donny with an A | 1 comment(s)

Filed under: Justice, Property Rights, Liberty

Protecting Others' Rights
Tue, Aug 19 2008 10:53 PM

So here's the basic idea: It seems like there's a difference between coming to someone's aid when they're asking you to, and coming to someone's aid when you determine on your own that they're being treated wrongly. This difference, I think, is extremely important, and might open the door to an understanding of the libertarian position... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Intrinsic Value

Roderick Long on Property
Thu, Jul 31 2008 1:07 AM

I was reading Roderick Long's article, " Land-Locked: A Critique of Carson on Property Rights ," and came across an argument that left me somewhat skeptical. I've recently become convinced that appropriation needs to be justified on the grounds of being a desirable "game," as Schmidtz argues in his essay, " The Institution of... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Property Rights, Appropriation and Environmentalism

Cap and Trade vs. the Carbon Tax
Fri, Jun 13 2008 5:09 PM

[Cross-posted on the parent blog ] So I've been addressing the issue of anthropogenic climate change for some time now, and I haven't said much in the way of addressing specific policy proposals. But I was just given a delightful present by one of my fellow FEE associates: a copy of the American Institute for Economic Research's latest Economic Education... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Climate Change, Appropriation and Environmentalism, Economics, Emergent Problems, Compensation

Another Double Standard Between Governments and Individuals?
Fri, Jun 13 2008 5:07 PM

[Cross-posted...a while ago...on the parent blog ] So today was my first day at the Foundation for Economic Education, where I'll be interning over the summer, and I've already had some excellent debates; this is going to be a fantastic experience. Everyone seems really passionate and interesting, and I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot from everyone... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Property Rights, Liberty

The Responsibility Principle vs. Breach of Duty
Fri, Jun 13 2008 5:05 PM

[Cross-posted...a while ago...on the parent blog ] So I stumbled upon a really jarring debate today. I'm sort of puzzled that I haven't already heard of this issue, and am suspicious that someone might just be able to explain to me why there isn't any problem, and I'm just confused. But in any case, here's the issue. It seems that in our current... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Compensation

Generational Rights
Mon, May 5 2008 5:40 PM

[Cross-posted on the parent blog ] The conclusion that we cannot infringe upon future people’s right by causing climate change may not appeal to individuals who see injustice in the fact that by causing climate change, the world we leave behind for future people could be substantially less hospitable than it would have been if presently existing people... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Climate Change, The Non-Identity Problem, Opportunity

Rights for Future People in Light of the Non-Identity Problem
Sun, May 4 2008 5:08 PM

[Cross-posted on the parent blog ] To this point, we have identified rights-infringements as occurring where climate change causes the climate system to become more dangerous. It might seem, then, that wherever the impacts of a more dangerous climate system are felt, rights will be infringed, into perpetuity. After all, the mere passage of time between a cause... Read More...

by Donny with an A | 2 comment(s)

Filed under: Justice, Climate Change, The Non-Identity Problem

Climate Change and the Right to Culture
Tue, Apr 29 2008 3:30 PM

[Cross-posted on the parent blog ] The Right to an Opportunity for Cultural Integration Focusing only on property damage caused by climate change, it may be noted, seems to leave out a large part of the picture of why people are concerned about climate change. In addition to the impacts discussed so far, many would find objection the fact that climate change... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Climate Change, Opportunity, Lifestyles

A First Glance at What Rights Could Be Infringed by Climate Change
Mon, Apr 28 2008 3:18 PM

[Cross-posted on the parent blog ] Climatic Shifts and the Right to Environmental Conditions The most obvious kind of rights infringement which could be caused by climate change involves damage done directly to individuals and property by environmental phenomena. Easiest to think about are the shifts in “normal” environmental conditions which are... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Property Rights, Climate Change

Rights and Entitlements
Tue, Apr 22 2008 12:29 AM

[Cross-posted on the parent blog ] Libertarian conceptions of justice are built around the idea that there are certain things which we may not do to people, because as individuals and ends in themselves, they are not to be used against their will for the benefit of others. These ideas are usually represented through the notion of “rights” that individuals... Read More...

by Donny with an A | with no comments

Filed under: Justice, Property Rights

What Does It Mean to Advocate a Market Solution to Climate Change?
Tue, Apr 15 2008 1:22 AM

[Cross-posted on the parent blog ] The purpose of this post will be to tie together some ideas I've been toying around with in other posts, in order to start working towards a coherent introduction to my thesis on the libertarian approach to thinking about climate change. Here goes nothing. Moving Past the Science As a group, libertarians have not dealt well... Read More...

by Donny with an A | 3 comment(s)

Filed under: Justice, Climate Change