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Private Property, Law, and the State
Private Property, Law, and the State provides a concise and rigorous presentation of property rights theory and its application in a stateless society. Moreover, a complete and universal ethical framework based on private property is developed. A wide range of topics are covered democracy, justice, immigration, the environment, national defense, intellectual property, education, and others.
Brackins begins by providing an ethical foundation for leading a moral life and then deconstructs a multitude of statist arguments with uncompromising logic. Even longstanding political theories such as democracy and minarchism are no longer safe from examination. The author is not content with the mere dissolution of these long-held beliefs, but also offers practical solutions on what steps society can take to replace them.
Brackins begins by providing an ethical foundation for leading a moral life and then deconstructs a multitude of statist arguments with uncompromising logic. Even longstanding political theories such as democracy and minarchism are no longer safe from examination. The author is not content with the mere dissolution of these long-held beliefs, but also offers practical solutions on what steps society can take to replace them.
276 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 26, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 9, 2019
Succinct and effective summary of the current state of libertarian theory, with applications to some contentious topics.
My only real complaints are as follows.
(1) The lack of discussion about non-interpersonal morals (Brackins follows Hoppe in declaring ethics about avoiding conflicts under scarcity, but most people consider morality to be broader than that: there is no discussion of why virtues, religion, etc. is outside the scope of law and ethics).
(2) Brackins repeats Rothbard’s erroneous arguments against parental obligation to their children, making the same mistakes. Simply put, parents are obligated to care for underage children because those children were created by them and are incapable of self-care. Brackins deals with these two premises separately, but it is the *combination* that results in the conclusion of obligation. Each premise is indeed insufficient on its own, but this does not refute the argument. (The same mistake is made when discussing abortion.)
Other than that, there are a few minor issues: “Ivy League” is spelled “Ivey” in a couple places, and some reorganization before publication led to a few places where he says something like “as shown earlier” when the topic is actually in a later chapter.
Despite all this, a good contribution clearly laying out the basic concepts behind libertarian thought and applying it well to a number of relevant topics.
My only real complaints are as follows.
(1) The lack of discussion about non-interpersonal morals (Brackins follows Hoppe in declaring ethics about avoiding conflicts under scarcity, but most people consider morality to be broader than that: there is no discussion of why virtues, religion, etc. is outside the scope of law and ethics).
(2) Brackins repeats Rothbard’s erroneous arguments against parental obligation to their children, making the same mistakes. Simply put, parents are obligated to care for underage children because those children were created by them and are incapable of self-care. Brackins deals with these two premises separately, but it is the *combination* that results in the conclusion of obligation. Each premise is indeed insufficient on its own, but this does not refute the argument. (The same mistake is made when discussing abortion.)
Other than that, there are a few minor issues: “Ivy League” is spelled “Ivey” in a couple places, and some reorganization before publication led to a few places where he says something like “as shown earlier” when the topic is actually in a later chapter.
Despite all this, a good contribution clearly laying out the basic concepts behind libertarian thought and applying it well to a number of relevant topics.
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October 23, 2021Absolutely superb! This is one of the most underated books out there on the philosophy of Anarcho-Capitalism.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews