Escape from Leviathan Escape from Leviathan Liberty, Welfare and Anarchy Reconciled J.C. Lester palgrave macmillan * First published in Great Britain 2000 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG2l 6XS and London Companies and representat;ves throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-I-349-4I740-7 ISBN 978-0-230-5I I54-5 (eBook) DOl 10.1057/9780230511545 First published in the United States of America 2000 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, LLC, Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-23416-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lester,J. C Escape from leviathan: liberty, welfare, and anarchy reconciled I J.C. Lester. p. em. Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN 978-0-312-23416-3 I. Liberty. 2. Libertarianism. 3. Welfare economics. I. Title. JC585 .L37 2000 320'Jll'l-dc2l 00--025475 © J. C. Lester 2000 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any li~ence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road,London WIP OLP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne Tomyparents Nothingin the state, everythingagainst the state, everythingoutside the state.' 1This reverses Benito Mussolini's defmition offascism (as quoted in The Blackwell Encyclopaedia ofPolitical Thought's entry on 'fascism' [Miller 1987, 150]).Anarcho-libertarianism, or private-propertyanarchism, is the oppositeoffascism. Contents Preface and acknowledgements x 1. Introduction 1 1.1. The Classical-Liberal CompatibilityThesis 1 1.2. WhyMoralAdvocacyis Avoided 3 1.3. ACritical-RationalistApologia 5 2. Rationality 11 2.0. ChapterThesis 11 2.1. WhyDefendAprioristic Instrumental Rationality? 11 2.2. The Selfand Its Interests 17 a. Formal Definitions 17 b. Freewill and Persons 19 c.Weakness ofWill or Meta-Desire? 24 d. DesiresversusValues? 27 2.3. Self-InterestandAltruism 35 a. The Logic ofAltruism 36 b. The Intentional Structure ofMoral Sentiments 39 c.Commitment, Motive-Stimuli, andVacuousness 41 2.4. Utility 47 2.5. Utility-Maximization 49 a. The CommensurabilityofOne's Want-Satisfactions 49 b. The Utility-MaximizationofCategoricalMorals 51 2.6. Economic Demand 54 vii viii Contents 3. Liberty 57 3.0. ChapterThesis 57 3.1. Capturingthe Conception 58 3.2. FourFundamental Criticisms ofMinimizing Imposed Cost 62 a. Libertarian Genocide? 62 b. ImpracticallyUnclear and Moralized? 63 c.Mob Rule? 64 i.A Typhoid Carrier 65 ii.A Critic ofReligion 66 iii. Libertarian Utility Monsters? 69 d. The Possibilityofa Paretian Liberal 70 3.3. Libertarians on 'Coercion' and'Liberty' 71 3.4. ObservingLibertyin a State ofNature 75 a. Self-Ownership and PropertyDerived Non-Morally 76 b. Honesty, Promises, and Contracts 80 c.Rectifying Libertarian Clashes 85 d. Newcomers and Future Generations 89 e. Intellectual Property 95 i.A GeneralDefense 95 ii. Some Criticisms from Libertarians 99 3.5. More Philosophical Problems 105 a. Exclusive LandAcquisition 105 b. Restitution, Retribution, and Evidence 108 i. 'Torts'and 'Crimes' 109 ii. Can Wealth Levels DistortRectification? 113 iii. Risk-MultiplierRectification 115 c.Consequentialism and Economics 120 3.6. Refutations ofIlliberalism 123 a. Conflationists and the Libertarian Principle 124 b. The Free-Slave Paradox 129 c.Ownershipby Mere Reliance on Natural Resources 133 d. Critical Rationalism and Libertarianism 135 e. After Illiberalism andJustificationism 142 Contents ix 4. Welfare 149 4.0. ChapterThesis 149 4.1. Welfare, Liberty, and the Market Overviewed 150 4.2. Interpersonal Utility Comparisons 152 4.3. ClarifyingWant-Satisfaction 155 4.4. More Criticisms ofWant-Satisfaction 161 a. Informational Constraints and Utility 161 b. 'SocialJustice'versus Utility 165 4.5. Some Practical and Economic Implications 169 a. Discrimination and Equality 169 b. PreferenceAutonomyand Free Personal Choice 174 4.6. Want-Satisfaction and Libertarian PropertyRights 178 a. Private Risks versus Welfare? 179 b. The Immediate Effects ofEquality 182 c.Utilityversus Individual Rights? 185 5. Anarchy 193 5.0. ChapterThesis 193 5.1. The State, Law, and Market-Anarchy 194 5.2. The Prejudice againstAnarchy 198 Notes 205 Bibliography 228 Index 240 Preface and acknowledgments I am indebted to the following people for valuable criticism: David Barker, Mark Brady, John Charvet, Jonathan Le Cocq, Antony Flew, David Gordon, Jan Narveson, and David Ramsay Steele. I have also benefited considerably from the comments of several anonymous reviewers ofparts, or all, ofwhatfollows. I have a particular debt to David McDonagh. His arguments first persuaded me to extreme, or consistent, classical liberalism or anarcho-libertarianism. He has also indefatigably continued to arguewith me overmanyparts ofthis book. Responsibilityfor errors remains, ofcourse,mine. I thank the relevant publishers for permission to quote from the following: Berlin, Isaiah. 1968. Four Essays on Liberty. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress. Frey,R.G.(ed.) 1985. UtilityandRights.Oxford: BasilBlackwell. Gauthier, David. 1986. Morals by Agreement. New York: Oxford UniversityPress. Gray, John. 1989. Liberalisms: Essays tn Political Theory. London: Routledge. Hahn, Frank, andMartin Hollis. 1979. Philosophy and Economic Theory. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress. Hare, Richard Mervyn. [1963] 1972. Freedom and Reason. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress. x