Economics Dictionary of Arguments

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Libertarianism: Libertarianism prioritizes minimal government involvement in both social and economic aspects, emphasizing individual freedom and free markets. Liberalism, while also valuing individual rights, supports a more active government role in addressing social issues and economic inequalities through regulation and welfare programs. See also Liberalism.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Thomas Pogge on Libertarianism - Dictionary of Arguments

Gaus I 128
Libertarianism/rights/harm/Pogge/Gaus/Mack: (... ) a (...) 'leftward' (statist) push comes from attempts to widen the concept of harm, such that almost any economic activity constitutes a harm to others. Cf. >Property/Hillel Steiner
, >Jobs/Van Parijs, >Egalitarianism/Gaus.
Thomas Pogge (2002)(1) has recently argued along these lines. Pogge builds his case on what looks like the liberty tradition's understanding of negative rights, in particular the right not to be harmed (...).
PoggeVsLibertarianism: However, he argues that 'simple libertarianism' is flawed because it fails to appreciate how institutions create harm (2002: 172). In particular, Pogge insists that the imposition of the 'global economic order' causes harm: it 'engenders war, torture and starvation' (2002(1): 173), and so anyone who participates in that order is contributing to injustice (2002(1): 211). Indeed, all participants help starve the poor (2002(1): 214).
Egalitarianism: Thus global redistribution is required to compensate for harms done, as well as to satisfy a version of the Lockean proviso (2002(1): ch. 8; compare Steiner, 1994(2): ch. 8).
GausVsPogge: Note how this argument depends on the idea that there exists an overall global system which is to be the object of our evaluation (rather than, say individual actions), that this system is coercively imposed on the poor, that as a consequence of this system the poor are harmed, and that each one of us is 'deeply implicated' in the harm perpetrated by the system
(2002(1): 142).
Individuals/libertyGausVsPogge: it is important here to note, though, the way that the
argument seeks to avoid the normative individualism of the liberty tradition (...).


1. Pogge, Thomas (2002) World Poverty and Human Rights. Oxford: Polity.
2. Steiner, Hillel (1994) An Essay on Rights. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.


Mack, Eric and Gaus, Gerald F. 2004. „Classical Liberalism and Libertarianism: The Liberty Tradition.“ In: Gaus, Gerald F. & Kukathas, Chandran 2004. Handbook of Political Theory. SAGE Publications

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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.
Pogge, Thomas
Gaus I
Gerald F. Gaus
Chandran Kukathas
Handbook of Political Theory London 2004


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