ACCORDING TO BLOCK’S THEORY of “evictionism” (1977, 1978), a fetus can be aborted only if it is not killed as a result (provided that it is a genuine medical possibility). Block claims to derive such a conclusion from the libertarian axiom of non-aggression, which prohibits harming other human beings (even those not [yet] conscious of their
I am thankful to Walter Block (2010) for his comprehensive and perspicacious engagement with my critical remarks regarding his theory of evictionism (Wisniewski 2010). I also appreciate his kind words about what he sees as the merits and strong points of my argumentation. However, as one could easily surmise from my decision to write this
Since I remain unconvinced by the arguments used by Walter Block (2010, 2011) to defend the compatibility of his theory of evictionism with libertarianism, I feel obliged to continue our debate. Without further ado, let me proceed to addressing the substantive points he raises in his latest rejoinder to my criticisms (Wisniewski 2010a,
Volume 3, Article 7 (2011) The question to be asked in this paper is the following: is there an objective element of well-being, completely independent of anyone’s desires, interests and preferences? Some authors claim that belief in the existence of such an element figures prominently in our moral practices. For instance, Scanlon (1975, p. 658)
Volume 12, No. 3 (2009) There is a strong tendency in modern moral philosophy to impose restrictions on the range of desires that are to count as genuinely contributive to the desirer’s welfare. Perhaps the most frequent among such proposals is that only appropriately “informed” or “rational” desires are to count. I shall argue that the
Volume 14, Number 1; 53-62. Spring 2011 Boettke, Leeson and Subrick (Boettke and Leeson 2004; Leeson and Subrick 2006) describe institutional robustness as the ability of a given system of social organization to stand up to the test of the so-called “hard cases,” i.e., hypothetical scenarios under which the ideal assumptions concerning,
Monetary profit isn’t the only kind of profit, and people may do many things for psychic profit . Nevertheless, in a complex and industrialized world, monetary profit is essential in building sustainable economies. It is relatively easy to understand and appreciate the benefits of direct cooperation. The value of familial gift-giving, mutual help
The greatest intellectual accomplishment of the laissez-faire liberal theorists was the recognition of the “hard” and “soft” institutions that are crucial prerequisites of productive accomplishment and material prosperity. The hard institutions include private property rights, market prices, and sound money. The soft institutions include those
Volume 17, No. 4 (Winter 2014) Legal polycentrism is the view that law and defense are, in relevant respects, no different from other goods and services normally supplied by the market, and that, in view of the generally acknowledged superior allocative properties of the market, freely competing protection and arbitration agencies would provide
[ This article originally appeared in Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric 57, no. 1 (2019): 161–174. Reprinted here with permission.] Abstract. The Mengerian-Misesian tradition in economics is also known as the causal-realist approach — in other words, it studies the causal structure of economic phenomena conceived of as outgrowths of real
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.