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Libertarianism, classical liberalism, liberalism, anarcho-capitalism

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Bogdan Posted: Thu, Feb 4 2010 11:15 AM

Is there a difference between libertarianism and classical liberalism?

Is classical liberalism more general term?

Should we try to fight back liberalism term, if it is a lot of common between old liberalism of Locke, Hume and others (classical liberalism)? (it is american task, in Europe liberalism is usually understood in primary definition).

Is anarcho-capitalism a part of libertarianism and classical liberalism, or, as Mises said, anarchism is opposite to liberalism?

Are neoliberalism, conservative liberalism, ordoliberalism parts of libertarianism and classical liberalism.

Or, as it is in english Wikipedia, they are parts of liberalism (with classical liberalism), but libertarianism is something very different?

 

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JAlanKatz replied on Thu, Feb 4 2010 11:31 AM

Bodia:
Is there a difference between libertarianism and classical liberalism?

I've taken the difference to be largely one of motivation, although I suppose there could also be policy differences, in particular how to deal with living in an imperfect world.  A libertarian holds that the highest value is liberty.  A classical liberal believes in the classic liberal values - tolerance, equality, humanism, and so on, and tended to believe that liberty was a means to achieve these.

Bodia:

Should we try to fight back liberalism term, if it is a lot of common between old liberalism of Locke, Hume and others (classical liberalism)? (it is american task, in Europe liberalism is usually understood in primary definition).

What?

Bodia:
s anarcho-capitalism a part of libertarianism and classical liberalism, or, as Mises said, anarchism is opposite to liberalism?

Anarchism is consistent libertarianism.  It is also consistent classical liberalism.

Bodia:
Are neoliberalism, conservative liberalism, ordoliberalism parts of libertarianism and classical liberalism.

No.

 

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Bogdan replied on Thu, Feb 4 2010 12:12 PM

Was Locke, Spenser, Mises, Hayek, M.Friedman, Ayn Rand libertarians?

Was Mises, Hayek, M.Friedman, Ayn Rand, Rothbard, Nozick classical liberals?

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Bogdan replied on Thu, Feb 4 2010 12:16 PM

JAlanKatz:

Bodia:

Should we try to fight back liberalism term, if it is a lot of common between old liberalism of Locke, Hume and others (classical liberalism)? (it is american task, in Europe liberalism is usually understood in primary definition).

What?

I'm talking about usement of term liberalism by leftists in USA.

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Bodia:
Was Locke, Spenser, Mises, Hayek, M.Friedman, Ayn Rand libertarians?

Locke was a libertarian.  I don't know about Spencer.  Mises was a libertarian.  Hayek I'm not sure about, but I suspect he might have been a libertarian, although he often spoke like a classical liberal.  Friedman was neither, if anything he was a neoliberal, but a more useful term today would be conservative.  Ayn Rand was a libertarian.  Mises was not a classical liberal, Hayek was, Friedman was not, Rand was not, Rothbard was not, Nozick probably was not.

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Bodia:
I'm talking about usement of term liberalism by leftists in USA.

I sensed that, but I still can't make heads or tails of what exactly you're saying about it.  Here's the thing - liberal policies have not been consistent across history, but liberal philosophy has.  It's just that American liberals have a different idea about how to achieve their liberal goals - a wrong idea, practically and morally.  They don't understand economics, and they have no respect for liberty.  On the other hand, it's easy to see where they got their ideas from.  They believed, classically, in a free economy.  The conservatives, meanwhile, built an actuality in which a few oligarchs enrich themselves through state power at the expense of everyone else.  How should a liberal react in such a situation?  If it is impossible to remove the privilege, then perhaps the liberal will think they should try to leverage the power of the state to take back from the oligarchs some of their extracted wealth.  It's hard to object morally, even if the implementation would be impossible.  But over time, liberalism forgot why it was doing this, and began to think that using the state to take from the rich and give to the poor is simply a good method for getting equality.

By the way, the New Deal was profoundly conservative, and was originally opposed by the liberals.

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Bogdan replied on Thu, Feb 4 2010 4:29 PM

JAlanKatz:
Friedman was neither, if anything he was a neoliberal, but a more useful term today would be conservative.

Mises was not a classical liberal

But Mises considered himself as classical liberal. M.Friedman considered himself as libertarian.  In some questions M.Friedman was more "pro-liberty" then Mises.

 

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Bogdan replied on Thu, Feb 4 2010 4:42 PM

JAlanKatz:

But over time, liberalism forgot why it was doing this, and began to think that using the state to take from the rich and give to the poor is simply a good method for getting equality.

I understand that.

Today there are two libelisms: liberalism of liberty (libertarianism) and liberalism of equity. Both take their root from classical liberalism. But they went in different ways and are VERY different now. So who should name himself as liberal. I think it is important to look in the word "liberalism". It is nt "equalism" or "welfarism". The root is french "liber", free.  Liberty, not equity, humanism or tolerance is central concept of liberalism.

 

 

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Ayn Rand was definitely not a libertarian. Mises a libertarian...ehhh its hard to say because in theory he approved of secession down to the level of the individual. I see that as something a libertarian would believe in. He kind of waffled on government though. I think he is really the bridge between classical liberalism and libertarianism because he recognizes that the government is no longer a neutral institution which could be used for the betterment of mankind but yet is unwilling to completely do away with it. Rothbard is definitely a libertarian. Friedman, a classical liberal, and that is probably a generous claim. Nozick flirted with libertarianism but then abandoned it.

'Men do not change, they unmask themselves' - Germaine de Stael

 

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William replied on Thu, Feb 4 2010 5:04 PM

Should we try to fight back liberalism term, if it is a lot of common between old liberalism of Locke, Hume and others (classical liberalism)? (it is american task, in Europe liberalism is usually understood in primary definition).

Liberalism as well as libertarianism are very broad terms.  Just about all schools of major political thought today come from liberalism.  A European (18)"60's" liberal were in many cases socialist.  Proudhon, Bakunin, and Marx are all from the liberal school of thought and are all libertarians.  In fact socialist types may have a better claim to the word "libertarian" than the US styled libertarians, as they used the term 1st. 

"I am not an ego along with other egos, but the sole ego: I am unique. Hence my wants too are unique, and my deeds; in short, everything about me is unique" Max Stirner
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Dondoolee:
Proudhon, Bakunin, and Marx are all from the liberal school of thought and are all libertarians

No, they were from the socialist school of thought which started before and continued after them.

'Men do not change, they unmask themselves' - Germaine de Stael

 

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William replied on Thu, Feb 4 2010 9:00 PM

Laughing Man:

Dondoolee:
Proudhon, Bakunin, and Marx are all from the liberal school of thought and are all libertarians

No, they were from the socialist school of thought which started before and continued after them.

 

To clarify my point, socialism was seen as nothing more than an extension of liberalism.  In the 1800's a clear dichotomy was not made, as you would often see terms like "political liberal", "social liberal" (socialists), "human liberal", etc.  "Liberty as an intrinsic value", equalitarian sentimentality, "the welfare of all", "the brotherhood of man" these are things found in both the socialists and early liberal causes (despite some argument in definitions).  I also think the "welfare" and "brothehoodr" sentiement  was more strongly defined among the early liberals, than the free market property sense of the philosophy.

That is all I am pointing out.  It may be natural to have the two words seperated now, I don't know.  But the libertarians on this site could also be catagorized as "liberal", "libertarian", and "anarchist" as I don't see how any of those words are inappropriate.  The only small quip I could see would be being late commers in using terms such as "anarchist" and "libertarian" when those words were used by people who detested capitalism before the propertarians used it.  So it could add a bit of confusion, still I think the words are appropriate.

"I am not an ego along with other egos, but the sole ego: I am unique. Hence my wants too are unique, and my deeds; in short, everything about me is unique" Max Stirner
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Liberalism is just anti ancien regime, regardless of what methods they wished to use to free themselves from the lords, landowners, and the church. 

 They also all seem to share some form of egalitarianism, which places mankind the concept, above the individual (this includes libertarians too).  In this way, there is still a compass to guide action towards the goal (any sect of) liberalism (now that god and his ordined leaders have been put out of the picture) seeks to achieve.

As Stirner said (about 165 years ago) the Egoist is post liberal, since they hold no ideas above their self- interest.  AnCaps and LeftAns are about as close to egoist as you can get in the spectrum of Liberalism, but since they are still hung up on promoting ideas above desire (natural rights for the AnCaps, equality for the Left Ans), they haven't quite totally abolished faith in fixed ideals.

"What Stirner says is a word, a thought, a concept; what he means is no word, no thought, no concept. What he says is not what is meant, and what he means is unsayable." - Max Stirner, Stirner's Critics
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Jackson LaRose:
 They also all seem to share some form of egalitarianism, which places mankind the concept, above the individual (this includes libertarians too).
wut? 

Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid

Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring

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I would expect you to know best of all.

Aren't all acting individuals in your mythology bestowed with inaleiable rights?  That's a type of universal equality, or a type of (minimum) egalitarianism, right? 

"What Stirner says is a word, a thought, a concept; what he means is no word, no thought, no concept. What he says is not what is meant, and what he means is unsayable." - Max Stirner, Stirner's Critics
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only if you want to abuse terms.

Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid

Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring

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nirgrahamUK:

only if you want to abuse terms.

He's correct insofar as libertarians implicitly embrace some form of humanism in their notions of universal human rights. Relative to Stirnerian standards, that's still a "spook", although perhaps milder than others.

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I don't believe in human rights but sentient rights. and whatever reverence i hold for the class of individuals (sentient-kind) only stems from the class being composed of sentient individuals. so what of my hierarchy of concepts?

Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid

Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring

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Brainpolice:
He's correct insofar as libertarians implicitly embrace some form of humanism in their notions of universal human rights. Relative to Stirnerian standards, that's still a "spook", although perhaps milder than others.

Bingo.  Made even worse by he fact that the libertarian abrogates themself to the concept, and extepct/demands others do the same.

"What Stirner says is a word, a thought, a concept; what he means is no word, no thought, no concept. What he says is not what is meant, and what he means is unsayable." - Max Stirner, Stirner's Critics
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Angurse replied on Sat, Feb 6 2010 1:05 PM

Jackson LaRose:
AnCaps and LeftAns are about as close to egoist as you can get in the spectrum of Liberalism, but since they are still hung up on promoting ideas above desire (natural rights for the AnCaps, equality for the Left Ans), they haven't quite totally abolished faith in fixed ideals.

Anarcho-capitalism has nothing to do with natural rights, its just institutions. Even libertarians who support anarcho-capitalism don't all support, or believe in natural rights.

"I am an aristocrat. I love liberty, I hate equality."
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nirgrahamUK:
I don't believe in human rights but sentient rights. and whatever reverence i hold for the class of individuals (sentient-kind) only stems from the class being composed of sentient individuals.

That seem like a contradictory statement.  You have taken a group of individuals you deem worthy of inclusion, then lumped them into an artifical group, for which you have regard, the others, you lump into a different artifical group, for which you have no regard.  How is this any different than a communist differentiating between "proletarieat" and "bourgeoisie"?

"What Stirner says is a word, a thought, a concept; what he means is no word, no thought, no concept. What he says is not what is meant, and what he means is unsayable." - Max Stirner, Stirner's Critics
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Angurse:
Even libertarians who support anarcho-capitalism don't all support, or believe in natural rights.

I thought that Libertarians by definition (since Rothbard first defined them) believed in natural rights.

"What Stirner says is a word, a thought, a concept; what he means is no word, no thought, no concept. What he says is not what is meant, and what he means is unsayable." - Max Stirner, Stirner's Critics
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What I have said is not contradictory. I have not categorised individuals into two classes. i will not answer your ridiculous question.

Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid

Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring

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Angurse replied on Sat, Feb 6 2010 1:14 PM

Jackson LaRose:
I thought that Libertarians by definition (since Rothbard first defined them) believed in natural rights.

No.

"I am an aristocrat. I love liberty, I hate equality."
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nirgrahamUK:
I have not categorised individuals into two classes.

The sentient (individuals worthy of rights, since truly human), and the non-sentient (individuals not worthy of rights, since unhuman).  I think that's what you were saying, right?

nirgrahamUK:
i will not answer your ridiculous question.

When the going gets tough, the faithful (religious, humanistic) get indignant.

"What Stirner says is a word, a thought, a concept; what he means is no word, no thought, no concept. What he says is not what is meant, and what he means is unsayable." - Max Stirner, Stirner's Critics
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Angurse:

Jackson LaRose:
I thought that Libertarians by definition (since Rothbard first defined them) believed in natural rights.

No.

Well, then what is the definition of a libertarian?  Does that mean we can start calling the natty rights "humanist libertarians"?

"What Stirner says is a word, a thought, a concept; what he means is no word, no thought, no concept. What he says is not what is meant, and what he means is unsayable." - Max Stirner, Stirner's Critics
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Angurse replied on Sat, Feb 6 2010 1:27 PM

Jackson LaRose:
Well, then what is the definition of a libertarian?  Does that mean we can start calling the natty rights "humanist libertarians"?

There isn't A definition, there are multiple. Natural rights libertarians would be... well, natural rights libertarians or deontological libertarians, to be contrasted with consequentialist libertarians.

"I am an aristocrat. I love liberty, I hate equality."
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Well, my next question would be "why not just be called anarchists then?" , but then I read your sig., so I think i know what you're going to say.

"What Stirner says is a word, a thought, a concept; what he means is no word, no thought, no concept. What he says is not what is meant, and what he means is unsayable." - Max Stirner, Stirner's Critics
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Angurse replied on Sat, Feb 6 2010 1:48 PM

Even Stirner knew well enough not to be called an "anarchist."

"I am an aristocrat. I love liberty, I hate equality."
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Hell, Stirner was probably pissed he even had to call himself an egoist!

"What Stirner says is a word, a thought, a concept; what he means is no word, no thought, no concept. What he says is not what is meant, and what he means is unsayable." - Max Stirner, Stirner's Critics
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