(DOWNLOAD) "Libertarianism and Positive Rights: Comments on Katz's Reply (Joshua Katz) (Critical Essay)" by Libertarian Papers * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Libertarianism and Positive Rights: Comments on Katz's Reply (Joshua Katz) (Critical Essay)
- Author : Libertarian Papers
- Release Date : January 01, 2009
- Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 65 KB
Description
IN "WHY LIBERTARIANS SHOULD REJECT Positive Rights," (1) Joshua Katz offers a critical response to the argument I develop in "Libertarianism and the Possibility of the Legitimate State." Although Katz raises some interesting points regarding the limits of a particular line of argumentation that can be found in that article, I think his response fails on two accounts. First, it fails to grasp the nature of the problem my article is ultimately concerned with. Second, it fails to present a solid case for the rejection of the type of positive right that I argue libertarians should endorse as a solution to that problem. Contrary to what Katz seems to suggest, the purpose of my article is not to provide a justification for the state. At the beginning of the article, I draw a distinction between the question about the possibility in principle of the legitimate state and the question about the possibility in practice of the legitimate state. The former question concerns whether there is a set of conceivable conditions under which the performance of the state's characteristic actions (taxing its subjects and monopolizing the provision of justice) is morally permissible. The latter question concerns whether such conceivable conditions do actually obtain. The article only deals with the first question. It argues that we should acknowledge the existence of certain conceivable conditions under which it would be morally permissibly for the state to do what it typically does. The article does not claim that those conditions are actually satisfied. I use this distinction in an attempt to draw our attention to a theoretical problem that the classical formulation of libertarianism seems to face.