There is quite a debate concerning, Foundations of Private Property Society Theory: Anarchism for the Civilized Person, at the Circle Rothbard-San Francisco group discussion page.
Member Michael Edelstein responded to another member this way.
First member:
If there are no overarching "laws" and everything is acceptable if it meets the subjective "rules" of an individual, why can't someone walk onto another person's property and kill them?
Why is that not acceptable to society (acting "collectively"), but killing someone who doesn't know what "A" on a gate means (maybe because they arrived from another country) is somehow acceptable by that same society, despite it being unacceptable throughout virtually all of human civilization?
Signed,
Still not getting it..
I look forward to Robert explaining it all at the next meeting to this confused reader (who paid the full $60 for the signed hardcover copy).
Edelstein response:
Everything is not acceptable. The PPS standard is “Leave me alone on my property and I will leave you alone on yours” (p. 89). It’s not acceptable because killing someone on their property violates the PPS standard.
There are no overarching laws because “the PPS offers more peace, more freedom, and the greatest opportunity for increasing our living standards" (p. 90).
The answers to many of your questions can be found in the book. I suggest you read it a few more times (and purchase a new copy each time). My 2nd reading gave me a deeper appreciation of the basic concept and its implications.
Michael
" I look forward to Robert explaining it all at the next meeting to this confused reader (who paid the full $60 for the signed hardcover copy)."
ReplyDeleteEx ante...ex post.
I have a question, is an overarching law?:
“Leave me alone on my property and I will leave you alone on yours” (p. 89).
If not, how does whatever it is have impact in the real world?
In chapter 15 of the PPS book, I discuss who it matters to and why.
DeleteThis is a psychological matter. Most people who grew up in the current system simply cannot imagine a world without surrogate parent figures setting boundaries for them and enforcing them with violence. Victims who have been so thoroughly abused and groomed to accept it cannot imagine what freedoms actually is, let alone how it would work.
ReplyDeleteI don’t even think one needs to invoke a “PPS standard” as Edelstein does. If someone murders another person, then they’re demonstrating that they condone murder and, via basic proportionality, are subject to being killed themselves.
ReplyDeleteI actually think this is a pretty ho-hum issue for libertarianism. Almost everyone already recognizes that garden variety murder is bad, and many are willing and ready to catch and punish murderers. The existence of non-existence of the state has little bearing on this reality.
In my book, I explain why the concept of proportionality fails.
Delete