Left-libertarianism 2496310 225497948 2008-07-14T00:34:03Z Operation Spooner 4835874 This is not a third definition. This is included in the first definition. And there is no page number for the source, regardless. {{For|the anti-[[statist]] versions of [[socialism]]|libertarian socialism}} {{libertarianism}} '''Left-libertarianism''' or '''left-wing libertarianism''' is a term in that has been adopted by several different movements and theorists. '''Left-libertarianism''' is usually regarded as doctrine that has a strong commitment to personal liberty ''and'' has an [[egalitarian]] view concerning [[natural resources]], believing that it is illegitimate for anyone to claim [[property|private ownership]] of resources to the detriment of others.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/libertarianism/ "Libertarianism" entry] at the [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]<br />Prof. Will Kymlicka "libertarianism, left-" in {{cite book | last = Honderich | first = Ted | title = The Oxford Companion to Philosophy | publisher = Oxford UP| location = New York | year = 2005 | isbn = 9780199264797 | quote =It combines the libertarian assumption that each person possesses a natural right of self-ownership over his person with the egalitarian premise that natural resources should be shared equally. Right-wing libertarians argue that the right of self-ownership entails the right to appropriate unequal parts of the external world, such as unequal amounts of land. According to left-libertarians, however, the world's natural resources were initially unowned, or belonged equally to all, and it is illegitimate for anyone to claim exclusive private ownership of these resources to the detriment of others. Such private appropriation is legitimate only if everyone can appropriate an equal amount, or if those who appropriate more are taxed to compensate those who are thereby excluded from what was once common property.}} See also Steiner, Hillel & Vallentyne. 2000. ''Left-Libertarianism and Its Critics: The Contemporary Debate''. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 1</ref><ref>Gaus, Gerald F. & Kukathas, Chandran. 2004. Handbook of Political Theory. Sage Publications Inc. p. 128</ref> Left libertarians include [[anarcho-communist]]s<ref>DeLeon, David. 1978. The American as Anarchist: Reflections on Indigenous Radicalism. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1978</ref> such as [[Kropotkin]] and [[anarcho-collectivism|anarcho-Collectivists]] such as [[Bakunin]].<ref>Goodwin, Barbara. 1987. Using Political Ideas, 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons. p. 137-138</ref> Forms of left libertarianism are defended by contemporary theorists such as Peter Vallentyne, Hillel Steiner, and [[Michael Otsuka]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Vallentyne | first = Peter | coauthors = Steiner, Hillel | title = Left-Libertarianism and Its Critics Left-Libertarianism and Its Critics: The Contemporary Debate | year = 2000 | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan | location = Basingstoke | language = English | isbn = 9780312236991 | pages = page 1 }}</ref> Most left-libertarians support some form of [[income redistribution]] on the grounds of a claim by each individual to be entitled to an equal share of natural resources.<ref>Gaus, Gerald F. & Kukathas, Chandran. 2004. ''Handbook of Political Theory''. Sage Publications Inc. p. 128</ref> [[Noam Chomsky]] refers to himself as a left libertarian.<ref> O'Hara, Phillip Anthony. 1999. Encyclopedia of Political Economy. Routledge. p. 15</ref> The term is sometimes used synonymously with [[libertarian socialism]].<ref>e.g. Faatz, Chris, "Toward[s] a Libertarian Socialism." Available at [http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/tals.html].</ref> A different definition of '''left-libertarianism''' is used - one originally popularized by some prominent members of the US [[libertarian]] movement, including [[Samuel Edward Konkin III]]<ref>Konkin is the founder of [[agorism]], author of the ''[http://agorism.info/docs/NewLibertarianManifesto.pdf New Libertarian Manifesto]'', and founder of the [http://www.geocities.com/mllweb/ Movement of the Libertarian Left]</ref> and [[Roderick T. Long]].<ref>Long is a well-known writer on left-libertarian [[zine]]s and blogs. One of his descriptions of the political spectrum is in his article for the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] entitled [http://www.mises.org/story/2099 Rothbard's "Left and Right": Forty Years Later]</ref> Classically, "left" was used to denote opposition to the ''[[Ancien Régime]]''. In the revolutionary French assemblies, some free-marketers such as [[Frederic Bastiat]]{{Fact|date=April 2008}} sat on the Left. According to Konkin, it was [[Murray Rothbard]]'s idea to call his and Konkin's radical free-market libertarianism "Left," in order to appeal to the [[New Left]] and solidify an alliance with them and because they wanted to distinguish themselves as being interested in building [[counter-economic]] enterprises. In this view that considers radical libertarians Left, libertarians based in [[minarchism]], [[gradualism]], [[conservatism]], and [[reformism]] are considered to be on the "Right<ref>Interview with Samuel Edward Konkin III [http://www.spaz.org/~dan/individualist-anarchist/software/konkin-interview.html]</ref> This labeling of market anarchism being left-wing libertarianism is not accepted by scholars, such as David DeLeon, who regard anarchism that stresses "the individualism of the unregulated marketplace" to be right-wing libertarianism.<ref>DeLeon, David. 1978. The American as Anarchist: Reflections on Indigenous Radicalism. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978, p. 123</ref> ==In analytic philosophy== [[Image:Philippe Van Parijs 070416.jpg|thumb|left|[[Political theorist]] [[Philippe Van Parijs]] has contributed to the academic literature on left-libertarianism]] Left-libertarianism combines the libertarian [[premise]] that each person possesses a natural right of [[self-ownership]] with the [[egalitarian]] premise that natural resources should be shared equally. Left-libertarianism holds that unappropriated natural resources are either unowned or owned in common, believing that private appropriation is only legitimate if everyone can appropriate an equal amount, or if private appropriation is taxed to compensate those who are excluded from natural resources. This contrasts with right libertarians who argue for a right to appropriate unequal parts of the external world, such as land.<ref>{{Sep entry|libertarianism|Libertarianism}}<br />Prof. Will Kymlicka "libertarianism, left-" in {{cite book | last = Honderich | first = Ted | authorlink = Ted Honderich| title = The Oxford Companion to Philosophy | publisher = Oxford U Pr, N Y | location = City | year = 2005 | isbn = 9780199264797 | quote =It combines the libertarian assumption that each person possesses a natural right of self-ownership over his person with the egalitarian premiss that natural resources should be shared equally. Right-wing libertarians argue that the right of self-ownership entails the right to appropriate unequal parts of the external world, such as unequal amounts of land. According to left-libertarians, however, the world's natural resources were initially unowned, or belonged equally to all, and it is illegitimate for anyone to claim exclusive private ownership of these resources to the detriment of others. Such private appropriation is legitimate only if everyone can appropriate an equal amount, or if those who appropriate more are taxed to compensate those who are thereby excluded from what was once common property. }}</ref> A number of [[Analytic philosophy|Anglo-American]] political philosophers argue for the validity and necessity of some [[social welfare]] programs within the context of libertarian self-ownership theory. [[Peter Vallentyne]] and [[Hillel Steiner]] edited a primer, ''The Origins of Left-Libertarianism: An Anthology of Historical Writings''. This text places [[Hugo Grotius]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Thomas Spence]], [[Thomas Paine]], [[John Stuart Mill]], [[Herbert Spencer]] and [[Henry George]] in the left libertarian tradition.<ref>''The Origins of Left-Libertarianism: An Anthology of Historical Writings'' Palgrave MacMillan 2001 ISBN 0312235917</ref> Steiner himself wrote ''An Essay on Rights'', a pioneering look{{Or|date=September 2007}} at rights and justice from a left-libertarian perspective. [[Philippe Van Parijs]] has written extensively on what he calls "real libertarianism", an approach very similar to Steiner and Otsuka's,{{Or|date=September 2007}} and usually subsumed under the rubric of left-libertarianism. More recently, [[Michael Otsuka]] published ''Libertarianism Without Inequality'', where he argues for incorporating egalitarian ideas into libertarian rights schemes. Though not left-libertarians themselves, [[G. A. Cohen]], [[John Roemer]], and [[Jon Elster]] have also written extensively about the notions of self-ownership and equality, which provide the basis for this branch of left libertarian thought. This self-styled left-libertarianism's historical roots in the school of [[analytical Marxism]] has cast a cloud of doubt over it for both leftists and libertarians of more conventional stripe.{{Fact|date=August 2007}} ===Property and natural resources=== {{Refimprovesect|date=August 2007}} [[Image:Henry George.jpg|thumb|left|[[Henry George]] (1839 – 1897) proposed the abolition of all [[tax]]es except those on [[Land value tax|land value]].]] Pro-capitalist libertarian theory is sometimes called "[[right-libertarianism]]." It places a very strong emphasis on [[property (ownership right)|private property]]. Unrestricted [[capitalism]] and [[free market]]s are advocated by all right-libertarians, with some of them believing that property rights are the most basic rights of all, or that all genuine rights can be understood as property rights rooted in self-ownership (right-libertarians can and do differ on the notion of [[intellectual property]]). However, Vallentyne and some other left-libertarian philosophers take a more moderate – and, in their view, realistic - approach. They differ from mainstream right-libertarians on the issue that [[Robert Nozick]] calls the "original acquisition of holdings". That is the question of how property rights came about in the first place, and how property was originally acquired. Right-libertarians hold that "[[wilderness]]" is unowned, and that unowned resources are made into property by use. This is generally referred to as [[homesteading]]. According to [[John Locke]], when a person "mixes his labor" with a previously unowned object, it becomes his. A person who cultivates a field in the wilderness, by virtue of "mixing his personality" with the land, becomes the rightful owner of it (subject to the [[Lockean proviso]] that equally-good land remains free for the taking for others). Vallentyne and some other left-libertarians hold that "wilderness" is [[Common ownership|commonly owned]] by all the people in a given area. Since there is no predetermined distribution of land and (they argue) since there is no reason to believe that, all things being equal, some people deserve more property than others, it makes sense to think of resources as commonly owned. Thus this brand of left-libertarianism denies that first use or "mixing labor" has any bearing on ownership. As such, it argues that any theory of left-libertarianism must structure its social and legal system around enforcing this idea of common ownership. Different proponents of this school of thought have different ideas about what can be done with property. Some believe that one must gain some kind of permission from their community in order to use [[Natural resource|resources]]. Others argue that people should be allowed to [[Appropriation (economics)|appropriate]] land in exchange for some kind of rent and they must either pay taxes on the [[profit]]s made from the appropriated resources or allow the products of those resources to become common property. Historically, the [[Georgism|Georgists]] were a leftist tendency within libertarianism. They believed that all humanity rightfully owned all land in common and that individuals should pay rent to the rest of society for taking sole or exclusive use of that land. People in this movement were often referred to as "[[single taxers]]," since they believed that the only legitimate tax was land rent. However, they did believe that [[private property]] could be created by applying labor to [[natural resources]]. ==Radical free-marketeers== {{see also|Libertarian perspectives on political alliances}} {{see also|Left-rothbardianism}} [[Mutualism (economic theory)|Mutualism]] emerged from early 19th-century socialism, and is generally considered a market-oriented part of the libertarian socialist tradition. Mutualists generally accept property rights, but with a short abandonment time period. In other words, a person must make (more or less) continuous use of the item or else he loses ownership rights. This is usually referred to as "[[Personal property|possession property]]" or "[[usufruct]]." Thus, in this usufruct system, absentee ownership is illegitimate, and workers own the [[machine]]s they work with. Some more recent market-oriented anarchist philosophies are considered left-libertarian. [[Mutualism (economic theory)|Mutualism]], initially developed in the 19th century, has reemerged, incorporating modern economic ideas such as [[marginal utility]] theory. [[Kevin A. Carson]]'s book [http://www.mutualist.org/id47.html ''Studies in Mutualist Political Economy''] was influential in this regard, updating the [[labor theory of value]] with [[Austrian School|Austrian economics]]. [[Agorism]]<ref>[http://www.agorism.info http://www.agorism.info]</ref>, an anarchist tendency founded by [[Samuel Edward Konkin III]], advocates [[counter-economics]], working in untaxed [[black market|black]] or [[grey market]]s, and boycotting as much as possible the unfree taxed market with the intended result that private voluntary institutions emerge and outcompete statist ones. [[Geoanarchism]], an anarchist form of [[Henry George]]'s philosophy, is considered left-libertarian because it assumes land to be initially owned in common, so that when land is privately appropriated the proprietor pays rent to the community. These philosophies share similar concerns and are collectively known as left-libertarianism.<ref>"Left" in its political sense has various and shifting usages. In the seminal agorist work, [http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/nlm/nlm.html The New Libertarian Manifesto], agorism is repeatedly described as left, presumably because it opposes the Old Order and is critical of political capitalism.{{Or|date=September 2007}} Also, the agorist-inspired coalition [http://www.geocities.com/mllweb/ Movement for the Libertarian Left] and [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LeftLibertarian2/ related groups] use "left" in this manner. Similarly, Kevin Carson's Mutualism.org self-identifies as left libertarian, e.g. "Other anarchist subgroups, and the libertarian left generally, share these ideas to some extent."[http://www.mutualist.org/]</ref> === Rapprochement with the Left === The first attempt at rapprochement between the postwar American [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] movement and the Left came in the 1960s, when [[Austrian School|Austrian-School]] economist [[Murray Rothbard]] came to question libertarianism's traditional alliance with the Right in light of the [[Vietnam War]]. During this period, Rothbard came to advocate strategic alliances with the [[New Left]] over issues such as the [[military draft]] and [[black power]]. [[Image:KarlHess.gif|thumb|right|Karl Hess]] Working with radicals like [[Ronald Radosh]], Rothbard argued that the consensus view of American economic history, wherein government has stepped in as a countervailing interest to corporate predation, is fundamentally flawed. Rather, he argued, government intervention in the economy has largely benefited established players at the expense of marginalized groups, to the detriment of both liberty and equality. Moreover, the "Robber Baron Period", adulated by the right and despised by the left as a [[laissez-faire]] haven, was not laissez-faire at all but in fact a time of massive state privilege accorded to capital. Rothbard criticized the "frenzied nihilism" of left-libertarians but also criticized right-wing libertarians who were content to rely only on education to bring down the state; he believed that libertarians should adopt any non-immoral [[Tactic (method)|tactic]] available to them in order bring about [[liberty]].<ref>Lora, Ronald & Longton, Henry. 1999. The Conservative Press in Twentieth-Century America. Greenwood Press. p. 369</ref> Rothbard's initial leftward impulse was maintained by [[Karl Hess]], picked up by activists like [[Samuel Edward Konkin III]] (founder of the [http://www.geocities.com/mllweb/ Movement of the Libertarian Left]) and [[Roderick Long]]. These left-libertarians agree with Rothbard that presently-existing [[capitalism]] does not even vaguely resemble a [[free market]], and that most presently-existing [[corporation]]s are the beneficiaries and chief supporters of statism. By this line of reasoning, libertarianism should make common cause with the anti-corporate left. Rapprochement with the left has led many left-libertarians to reject some traditional libertarian stances, such as hostility to [[labor union]]s and support for [[intellectual property]], or even to limit valid real-property rights to use-and-occupancy. ===Cultural politics=== Contemporary left-libertarians also show markedly more sympathy than mainstream or paleo-libertarians towards various cultural movements which challenge non-governmental relations of power. For instance, left-libertarians [[Roderick Long]] and Charles Johnson have called for a recovery of the nineteenth-century alliance between radical [[liberalism]] and [[feminism]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://charleswjohnson.name/essays/libertarian-feminism |title = Libertarian Feminism: Can This Marriage Be Saved? |accessdate = 2007-08-08 |author = |last = Johnson |first = Charles |authorlink = Charles W. Johnson (philosopher) |coauthors = [[Roderick T. Long]] |date = |year = |month = |format = essay |work = |publisher = Molinari Society |pages = |language = |doi = |archiveurl = |archivedate = |quote = }}</ref> Left-libertarians are more likely to take recognizably leftist stances on issues as diverse as [[feminism]], [[gender]] and [[Sexual identity|sexuality]], [[sexual freedom]], [[Prohibition (drugs)|drug policy]], race, class, immigration, [[environmentalism]], [[gun rights]], and foreign policy. Current writers who have significantly impacted or explored this aspect of left-libertarianism include [[Chris Sciabarra]], [[Roderick Long]], Charles Johnson, [[Kevin Carson]], and Arthur Silber. == Further reading == * {{cite book | last = Rothbard | first = Murray N. | title = [[Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought|Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought (Complete, 1965-1968)]] | publisher = Ludwig von Mises Institute, USA | location = Auburn, Alabama | year = 2007 | isbn = }} * {{cite book | last = Otsuka | first = Michael | title = Libertarianism Without Inequality | publisher = Oxford University Press, USA | location = City | year = 2005 | isbn = 9780199280186 }} * Vallentyne, P., Steiner, H., & Otsuka, M. (2005). Why Left-Libertarianism is not Incoherent, Indeterminate, or Irrelevant. ''Philosophy & Public Affairs, 33'': 201-15. [http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~uctymio/leftlibP&PA.pdf Full text] * {{cite book | last = Vallentyne | first = Peter | title = Left-Libertarianism and Its Critics | publisher = Palgrave | location = Basingstoke | year = 2000 | isbn = 9780312236991 }} * {{cite book | last = Vallentyne | first = Peter | title = The Origins of Left-Libertarianism | publisher = Palgrave | location = Basingstoke | year = 2000 | isbn = 9780312235918 }} ==Notes and references== {{reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.agorism.info/ Agorism.info], home of the Movement of the Libertarian Left * [http://all-left.net/ Alliance of the Libertarian Left] * [http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1931/ An Anarchist FAQ] * [http://anarchism.net/ ANARCHISM.net], a site attempting to abridge the differences of anarchist factions from a left libertarian point of view * [http://www.holisticpolitics.org HolisticPolitics.org], a site reconciling libertarian and liberal sentiments * [http://leftlibertarian.org/ LeftLibertarian.org] (anti-corporate left-libertarianism) blog aggregator * [http://www.leftlibertarianism.org/ leftlibertarianism.org] (philosophical left-libertarianism) * [http://www.liberty-search.com Liberty Search], Specific search engine for classical liberalism and libertarianism * [http://www.mutualist.org/ Mutualist.org], free market anti-capitalism * [http://www.missouri.edu/~klinechair/ Peter Vallentyne's online papers] * [http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/libertarians.html Prominent Anarchists and Left-Libertarians] * [http://www.spunk.org/library/otherpol/critique/index.html Spunk Library: Left libertarian critiques of anarcho-capitalism and right-libertarianism] * [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/leftlib.html Martin Huben's page: Left libertarian critiques of anarcho-capitalism and right-libertarianism] * [http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5065/libcon.html "The Libertarian as conservative"] by [[Bob Black]] (left libertarian critique of right-libertarianism] [[Category:Left-libertarianism| ]] [[Category:History of socialism]] [[Category:Political philosophy]] [[Category:Left-wing politics]] [[de:Linkslibertarismus]] [[es:Libertarianismo de izquierda]] [[fi:Vasemmistolibertarismi]] [[sv:Vänsterlibertarianism]]