Outline of libertarianism

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to libertarianism:

Libertarianism – political philosophy that upholds liberty as its principal objective. As a result, libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and freedom of choice, emphasizing political freedom, voluntary association and the primacy of individual judgment.

Nature of libertarianism

Supports

Economic freedom – the freedom to receive the full value of one's labour, or to produce, trade and consume any goods and services acquired without the use of force, fraud or theft
Egalitarianism – the idea that all humans are equal in fundamental worth or social status
Individual responsibility – the idea that a person is responsible for their own actions and their own lives
Personal development – methods, skills and strategies by which individuals can effectively direct their own activities toward the achievement of objectives and includes goal setting, decision making, focusing, planning, scheduling, task tracking, self-evaluation, self-intervention, self-development and so on
Self-governance – the idea that a person or group are able to exercise all of the necessary functions of power without intervention from any authority which they cannot themselves alter
Self-ownership – the concept of property in one's own person, expressed as the moral or natural right of a person to be the exclusive controller of his or her own body and life
Social responsibility – the idea that a person is responsible for and has an obligation to act in the best interests of their community
Voluntary association – a group of individuals who enter into an agreement as teers to form a body (or organization) to accomplish a purpose

Rejects

Authoritarianism – a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority
Coercion – the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force
Imperialism – as defined by the Dictionary of Human Geography, it is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination"

Debates

Branches and schools of libertarianism

Libertarianism has many overlapping schools of thought, all focused on smaller government and greater individual responsibility. As interpretations of the non-aggression principle vary, some libertarian schools of thought promote the total abolition of government while others promote a smaller government which does not initiate force. Some seek private ownership of all property and natural resources while others promote communal ownership of all natural resources and varying degrees of private property.

Libertarian theory and politics

Libertarian ideals

These are concepts which although not necessarily exclusive to libertarianism are significant in historical and modern libertarian circles.

Individuals who have influenced libertarianism

Anarchists

Émile Armand (1872–1962) – influential individualist anarchist
Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) – theorist of collectivist anarchism who influenced the development of left-libertarianism
William Godwin (1756–1836) – the first modern proponent of anarchism, whose political views are outlined in his book Political Justice
Karl Hess (1923–1993) – libertarian socialist and tax resistor
Thomas Hodgskin (1787–1869) – author of works on anti-capitalism, individualist anarchism and libertarian socialism
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) – the first self-described anarchist and founder of mutualism
Lysander Spooner (1808–1887) – notable individualist anarchist and founder of the American Letter Mail Company
Max Stirner (1806–1856) – founder of egoist anarchism
Benjamin Tucker (1854–1939) – a leading theorist of individualist anarchism in the 19th century
Josiah Warren (1798–1874) – the first known American anarchist and author of the anarchist periodical The Peaceful Revolutionist

Economists

Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) – 19th century creator of the concept of opportunity cost
Peter Bauer (1915–2002) – wrote about developmental economics
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (1851–1914) – contributor to the Austrian School
Richard Cantillon (c. 1680–1734) – wrote about prices, value, and markets
Charles Dunoyer (1786–1862) – French economist and political scholar
David D. Friedman (b. 1945) – American economist
Robin Hahnel (b. 1946) – modern participatory economics scholar and libertarian socialist
Floyd Harper (1905–1973) – founded the Institute for Humane Studies
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (b. 1949) – developed extensive work on argumentation ethics
Israel M. Kirzner (b. 1930) – British economist
Frank H. Knight (1855–1972) – American professor
Carl Menger (1840–1921) – founder of Austrian School economics
John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) – British philosopher and political economist, wrote On Liberty
Ludwig von Mises (1881–1972) – philosopher, Austrian School economist, sociologist and classical liberal
Gustave de Molinari (1819–1912) – French commentator on political economy
Franz Oppenheimer (1864–1943) – German sociologist and economist
Vincent Ostrom (1919–2012) – American educator and political economist
David Ricardo (1772–1823) – British classical economist
Murray Rothbard (1926–1995) – founder of anarcho-capitalism and a leading Austrian School economist
Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) – French political economist
Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) – Moravian-born Austrian economist
Nassau William Senior (1790–1864) – British economist
Julian Simon (1932–1998) – American economist
Adam Smith (1723–1790) – British political economist and philosopher
Thomas Sowell (b. 1930) – American economist and social theorist
William Graham Sumner (1840–1910) – American economist and sociologist
Antoine Destutt de Tracy (1754–1836) – French economist and political theorist
Gordon Tullock (1922–2014) – American economist and sociologist
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727–1781) – French economist and statesman
Knut Wicksell (1851–1926) – Swedish economist

Nobel Laureates
- Gary Becker (1930–2014) – who wrote about human behavior
- James M. Buchanan (1919–2013) – worked on public choice theory
- Ronald H. Coase (1910–2013) – studied transaction costs
- Milton Friedman (1912–2006) – monetarist economist, supported economic deregulation and privatization
- Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) – Austrian School economist, notable for his political work The Road to Serfdom
- Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012) – common pool resource theorist and environmentalist
- George J. Stigler (1911–1991) – Chicago School economist

Legal and political figures

John Adams (1735–1826) – drafted the American Declaration of Independence
Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563) – French judge and writer, early advocate of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance
Edmund Burke (1792–1797) – influential liberal conservative
Ed Clark (b. 1930) – lawyer and US Libertarian Party politician
Richard Cobden (1804–1865) – Anti-Corn Law League figure (opposing tariffs)
Edward Coke (1552–1634) – British MP and legal scholar
Charles Comte (1782–1837) – French political and legal scholar
Marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794) – author and liberal reformer during the French Revolution
Benjamin Constant (1767–1830) – figure during the French Revolution who argued for constitutional limits on power
Albert Venn Dicey (1835–1922) – scholar of British constitutional law
Denis Diderot (1713–1784) – French legal scholar
Richard A. Epstein (b. 1943) – American law professor and legal theorist
Adam Ferguson (1723–1816) – influenced the Scottish Enlightenment
William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) – British political figure
Barry Goldwater (1909–1998) – US Senator and presidential candidate
Auberon Herbert (1836–1906) – British writer, MP, and founder of the doctrine of Voluntaryism
John Hospers (1918–2011) – American philosopher and Libertarian Party political candidate
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) – American president
Roger Lea MacBride (1929–1995) – American writer and US Libertarian Party presidential nominee
James Madison (1750–1836) – American president
Henry Sumner Maine (1822–1888) – British legal scholar
George Mason (1725–1792) – American Revolutionary War figure
Tonie Nathan (1923–2014) – American media commentator and Libertarian Party vice-presidential election candidate
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) – American Revolutionary War figure
Ron Paul (b. 1935) – American politician and presidential candidate (1988, 2008 and 2012)
Richard Posner (b. 1939) – American judge and legal theorist
Roscoe Pound (1870–1964) – American legal theorist
John Rawls (1921–2002) – American legal theorist
Third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713) – English politician, philosopher, and writer
Algernon Sidney (1623–1683) – British statesman and philosopher
Robert A. Taft (1889–1953) – US Senator and conservative politician
George Washington (1732–1799) – American president
William Wilberforce (1759–1833) – British politician, social activist, and philanthropist

Objectivists

Nathaniel Branden (1930–2014) – influenced Ayn Rand
Leonard Peikoff (b. 1933) – founder of the Ayn Rand Institute and Rand's designated intellectual heir
Ayn Rand (1905–1982) – the creator of the philosophy of Objectivism

Others

Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) – theologian who wrote about individual autonomy
Aristotle (382–322 BCE) – Greek philosopher and polymath whose philosophy stressed personal virtue
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) – English 'father of utilitarianism'
Murray Bookchin (1921–2006) – founder of libertarian municipalism and social ecology theorist
John Bright (1811–1889) – British radical who promoted free trade
John Brown (1800–1859) – abolitionist leader
Henry Thomas Buckle (1821–1862) – historian who defended laissez-faire trade
Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui (1694–1748) – wrote about natural law
Roy Childs (1949–1992) – essayist and critic
Frank Chodorov (1887–1966) – member of the American Old Right
Noam Chomsky (b. 1928) – linguist and social critic
Cicero (106–43 BCE) – Roman jurist and classical humanist
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) – American abolitionist
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) – American founder of Transcendentalism
Antony Fisher (1915–1988) – British philanthropist and founder of the Atlas Network
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) – French social theorist
William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879) – American abolitionist
Henry Hazlitt (1894–1993) – American journalist and writer
Robert Heinlein (1907–1988) – science fiction writer
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1676) – political theorist who wrote Leviathan
Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) – German political theorist who wrote The Limits of State Action
David Hume (1711–1776) – Scottish Enlightenment author of the Treatise of Human Nature
Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746) – figure in the Scottish Enlightenment
Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) – Canadian writer on urban planning
Bertrand de Jouvenel (1903–1987) – French writer on political and social thought
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) – German Enlightenment philosopher
Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968) – American writer
Lao Tzu (c. 600 BCE) – argued for limited government
Bartolomé de las Casas (1474–1566) – Spanish historian
Robert LeFevre (1911–1986) – American educator, founder of Rampart College
William Leggett (1801–1839) – American journalist
John Locke (1632–1704) – philosopher, generally regarded as the 'father of liberalism'
Lord Acton (1834–1902) – historian
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) – British classical liberal
Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733) – Dutch-born, London based physician
H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) – American writer
Frank S. Meyer (1909–1972) – American writer and founder of National Review
John Milton (1608–1674) – British poet and political commentator
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) – writer during the French Renaissance
Montesquieu (1689–1755) – French social commentator and political thinker
Charles Murray (b. 1943) – American political scientist
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) – German political writer
Albert Jay Nock (1870–1945) – American political writer
Robert Nozick (1938–2002) – philosopher and author of Anarchy, State, and Utopia
José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955) – Spanish philosopher and essayist
George Orwell (1903–1950) – British writer and social analyst
Isabel Paterson (1886–1961) – American writer
Karl Popper (1902–1994) – Vienna-born British social theorist
Richard Price (1723–1791) – British moral and political theorist
Leonard E. Read (1898–1983) – American writer and author of I, Pencil
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) – French Enlightenment philosopher
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) – biologist, sociologist and philosopher
Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) – Hungarian-born American physician and writer
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) – philosopher of American transcendentalism and anarcho-pacifism
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) – French-born political theorist
Voltaire (1694–1778) – French philosopher, historian, and writer
Robert Anton Wilson (1932–2007) – author of The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) – British writer

External links

"Libertarianism". Encyclopædia Britannica.
"Libertarianism". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
"Libertarianism" entry by Bas van der Vossen in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, January 28, 2019

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