Justice:What's the right thing to do? Episode 3 Libertarianism

Part One: Free to Choose

In the case of justice and rights, if we suspect that Mill is implicitly leaning on notions of human dignity or respect for persons that are not, strictly speaking, utilitarian, we need to look to see whether there are some stronger theories of rights that can explain the intuition which even Mill shares.

This strong rights theory says:

Individuals matter not just as instruments to be used for a larger social purpose or for the sake of maximizing utility. Individuals are separate beings with separate lives worthy of respect. And it’s a mistake to think about justice or law by just adding up preferences and values.

This theory is libertarianism.

Libertarianism takes individual rights seriously. It is called libertarianism because it says the fundamental human/individual right is the right to liberty. And that means a right to choose freely, to live our lives as we please provided we respect other people’s rights to do the same.

Robert Nozick: WHAT MAKES INCOME DISTRIBUTION JUST?

Libertarianism says …you have to look at two principles. The first is justice in acquisition, it means did people get the things they use to make their money fairly? Did they steal the land or the factory or the goods that enable them to make all that money? If not, if they were entitled to whatever it was that enable them to gather wealth, the first principle is met. The second principle is did the distribution arise from the operation of free consent of people trading in the market. (free choice of individuals).

1. Justice in Acquisition (initial holdings)

2. Justice in Transfer (free market)

Part Two: Who Owns Me?

The fundamental principle that underlies the libertarian case for rights is the idea that I own myself, the idea of self-possession.

Libertarians combat the utilitarian idea of using people as means for the collective happiness by saying that the way to put a stop to that utilitarian logic of using persons is to resort to the intuitively powerful idea that we are the owners/proprietors of our own person.

Nozick doesn’t himself fully develop the idea of self-possession, he borrows it from an earlier philosopher - John Locke.

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