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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 361
EAN num: 9780814775592
ISBN number: 0814775594
Label: NYU Press
Manufacturer: NYU Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 360
Printing Date: February 01, 2003
Publishing house: NYU Press
Release Date: February 01, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 236012
Studio: NYU Press
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In recent years, libertarian impulses have increasingly influenced national and economic debates, from welfare reform to efforts to curtail affirmative action. Long out of print, Murray N. Rothbard's classic The Ethics of Liberty stands as one of the most rigorous and philosophically sophisticated expositions of the libertarian political position.
What distinguishes Rothbard's book is the manner in which it roots the case for freedom in the concept of natural rights and applies it to a host of practical problems. An economist by profession, Rothbard here proves himself equally at home with philosophy. And while his conclusions are radical—that a social order that strictly adheres to the rights of private property must exclude the institutionalized violence inherent in the state—his applications of libertarian principles prove surprisingly practical for a host of social dilemmas, solutions to which have eluded alternative traditions. The Ethics of Liberty authoritatively established the anarcho-capitalist economic system as the most viable and the only principled option for a social order based on freedom. The current edition is newly indexed and includes a new introduction that takes special note of the Robert Nozick-Rothbard controversies.
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Rated by buyers 
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The Rothbardian brand of libertarianism can be somewhat extreme, but if anyone could explain and sell every page of it well--it would be Murray Rothbard. Anyone interested in really breaking down libertarian philosophy, this is an excellent starting point. I do no recommend this book for people who aren't familiar with the philosophy though, this book can be a bit heavy and somewhat confusing for someone who doesn't have a good foundation of knowledge to work with.
Eventually though, and at one point or another--this books is a must read.
Rated by buyers 
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The Ethics of Liberty is Murray Rothbard's philosophical contribution to the intellectual domain, and is akin and in many facets superior to Ayn Rand's The Virtue of Selfishness. In this work, Rothbard lays out his ethical frame of natural rights, and from there on shows the importance of the principles of self-ownership, non-aggression and property (via homesteading), and their logical conclusion, market anarchism. He skilfully reformulates "human" rights as component rights of property rights (beginning with ownership over oneself), and thus succeeds in avoiding many of the pitfalls facing conventional rights-ethicists. Contra another reviewer here, Rothbard was not engaging in "emotional" appeals (no more than any Kantian or utilitarian, anyway), but rather appeals to the reader's rational faculty. That many individuals are not consistent in their moral beliefs does not invalidate his position, as in order to justify any system one must be capable of proferring a coherent defence for it. Rothbard mostly relies on the extensive work of natural-rights philosophers for his exposition, and he does well to. An abundance of materials on natural-rights theory are referenced. Rothbard also attempts to tackle hard cases head-on, such as childrens' rights, abortion (Rothbard brings together many superb writings on the subject and offers his own unique defence for abortion), animal rights, bribery/blackmail/boycotts (which he concludes are ethically but not necessarily morally defensible), retributive vs. deterrence vs. restitutional theories of punishment (one of my favourite parts) and so on. In this work he outlines the extremely important title theory of contracts. Unlike many proponents of the free market, Rothbard does not fall into the trap of seeing the status quo regime of private property as defensible, as many other free market advocates do; indeed, he demonstrates the severe extent to which much "private" property was unjustly acquired, and thus is not legitimately held. Moreover, he offers a critique of the State and the contradictory principles which many of its proponents adhere to; with natural-rights ethics in hand, he offers visceral critiques. Often libertarianism has been criticized for focusing too much on the ideal, and not adopting a more dialectical approach; in this tome, Rothbard offers the beginnings of such a perspective. Critiques are offered of conventional defences of laissez-faire (including Hayek's, Nozick's and the utilitarian economist's.) Rothbard ends the book with a delightful dose of optimism on the future prospects of liberty, and how to achieve it.
This work is by no means perfect, and Rothbard, though an intellectual, is not a professional philosopher - he was primarily an economist and an historian, and a system-builder (he combined many philosophical insights rather than deducing them himself, and expanded on them.) Other libertarians (e.g. Block, Sciabarra, Gordon, Long, Hoppe, Narveson, Machan) have taken on his mantle, and have greatly expanded on Rothbard's thoughts, often producing works of superior quality. Be that as it may, the book is a classic in libertarian thought and essential to understand the bases of libertarian ethical theory, and thus is a must-read. It is not just a work for Austrian "sheep". The contents of this volume are of far greater value and consistency, in my view, than Nozick's lauded Anarchy, State and Utopia.
Rated by buyers -
This is my choice for the best introduction to libertarianism for the serious student of political economy. Randy Barnett's _The Structure of Liberty_ and Frederic Bastiat's _The Law_ are excellent as well, but second to _The Ethics of Liberty_.
Rothbard builds the structure of liberty one brick at a time. After laying the foundation, he then applies the basics to deconstructing the state. He proceeds further with trenchant critiques of utilitarianism, Mises, Hayek, Berlin, and Nozick. (As an added gem, in the Nozick chapter Rothbard presents a compelling case for a free-market justice system.)
I highly recommend this book for those who wish a profound understanding of libertarianism from one of its foremost proponents.
Michael R. Edelstein, Ph.D.
Author of _Three Minute Therapy_
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I read this book when I was a recovering Randian. His arguments were very much like Rand's. This though, Rand did not cover half the material that he does in this book. Rothbard's mode of argumentation was to create false choices in order to show that only his premises were valid. In short, Rothbard always sought to force his reader to accept libertarian axioms. Though a great economist who I have learnt a lot from; he is a poor political theorist. His ability to put an economic perspective on certain issues is the only thing commendable about the book. I found his claim that for a moral system to be valid it must be universal to be question begging. His claim that a moral system that would see the death of humans on a large scale as being invalid is wanting, and a sign of his inconsistency. You see, Rothbard always asserted that even if libertarianism was not conducive to human well-being he would still support the system. His defense of homesteading and the nonsense term self-ownership were equally poor. His argument against the state was nothing but appeal emotions. For, he was a moralist gone wild in the book. Most people are not moral absolutist. It follows that saying that taxation is theft is unconvincing. For, most people do not consider it to be stealing, and that is all that matters. His presentation of capitalism as a desirable system was a shot in the leg. Most people would raise eyebrows when one claims that we need to abolish the state and let true-believing capitalists run amok (some of them love the state). In short, Rothbard provided nothing that would make most people want to do away with the status quo. Besides, the fact that most people are religious precludes them wanting such a dramatic revolution. Indeed, those who aren't waiting for Christ or heaven are waiting for an Islamic theocracy.
As a libertarian book it is good enough; as persuasive propaganda is bad enough.
Rated by buyers 
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This was the very first work of Rothbard's that I found to be highly displeasing. It is a mix of poor philosophy and legal construction. While the author is a brilliant economists, one of the best in the twentieth century, this work on philosophy takes away from his overarching beliefs as put forth in his other writing. Don't read this for an argument on natural rights. He admits that is not his purpose. Don't read this for a picture of a legal system in a free society (see Benson- Enterprise of Law). Instead, go to the best defense of Anarchy, which is Rothbard's "For A New Liberty". The only reason to read this is if you want to be familiar with a book that is referenced ubiquitously by Austrian sheep.
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