Matt Zwolinski

Zwolinski and Hicks on Rand and rights theory

Matt Zwolinski and I have a friendly debate about several technical, foundational issues in Rand’s theory of rights: Can rights be based on egoism? What’s the connection between property rights and value creation? What counts as an improper initiation of force? Several other sub-issues about content and method arise along the way. In about 750 words each, […]

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Two libertarians debate the welfare state, pro and con

Bryan Caplan says No: I’m a hard-core libertarian who defines libertarianism broadly. If you think voluntarism is seriously underrated and government is seriously overrated, you’re a libertarian in my book.” But, “when libertarians start describing Danish ‘flexicurity’ with deep admiration, however, I don’t just doubt their libertarian commitment. More importantly, I wonder why they changed

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Bleeding-heart libertarianism?

Jumping into the debate about “bleeding-heart libertarianism” (Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi, Bryan Caplan and again, David Friedman, David Henderson, and others), which seeks to integrate libertarianism with social justice. “Social justice” is one of those vaguely-specified, usually suspect phrases, defined by one defender of BHL as the position that “the moral justification of our

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