IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v74y2015i1p29-62.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Natural Rights, Human Rights, and Libertarianism

Author

Listed:
  • Walter E. Block

Abstract

The present article is devoted to developing a libertarian understanding of whether natural rights may or may not underpin human rights and, if so, how. Libertarianism is first defined in terms of the nonaggression principle (NAP), in answer to the question “What is the proper use of force?” This provides a basis for the libertarian positions on property rights, taxation, and many other issues, including human rights. Various philosophical rationales for the NAP are explored, including utilitarianism, religion, and natural rights. The basis of human rights is then examined. Every ethical tradition supports the nonaggression principle, which makes it an ideal candidate for the fundamental basis of human rights. Unfortunately, other traditions expand upon human rights by adding “positive” rights that ultimately violate the NAP. The conclusion takes up the application of libertarian principles to three issues, which could be viewed as human rights questions: discrimination, abortion, and the “trolley problem.” The last one involves taking one life to save many others.

Suggested Citation

  • Walter E. Block, 2015. "Natural Rights, Human Rights, and Libertarianism," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 29-62, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:74:y:2015:i:1:p:29-62
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ajes.12086
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huerta de Soto, Jesus, 1996. "New Light on the Prehistory of the Theory of Banking and the School of Salamanca," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 59-81.
    2. Walter E. Block & Michael R. Edelstein, 2012. "Popsicle Sticks And Homesteading Land For Nature Preserves," Romanian Economic Business Review, Romanian-American University, vol. 7(1), pages 7-13, March.
    3. Tsang, Eric W. K., 2014. "Old and New," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(03), pages 390-390, November.
    4. Robert W. McGee (ed.), 2012. "The Ethics of Tax Evasion," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-1-4614-1287-8, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ali Shalizar Jalali, 2018. "Male Fertility as a Bull’s Eye for Mastocytosis," Global Journal of Reproductive Medicine, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 3(3), pages 58-60, February.
    2. Rujirutana Mandhachitara & Randall Shannon, 2016. "The Formation and Sustainability of same Product Retail Store Clusters in A Modern Mega City," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 107(5), pages 567-581, December.
    3. Rachel Margolis & Laura Wright, 2017. "Older Adults With Three Generations of Kin: Prevalence, Correlates, and Transfers," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 72(6), pages 1067-1072.
    4. Joan Calzada & Begoña García-Mariñoso & Jordi Ribé & Rafael Rubio & David Suárez, 2018. "Fiber deployment in Spain," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 256-274, June.
    5. Guido Busca, 2021. "Production of Gasolines and Monocyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: From Fossil Raw Materials to Green Processes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-32, July.
    6. Hui Yan & Guixiang Liu, 2021. "Fire’s Effects on Grassland Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-15, October.
    7. Jose Pina-Sánchez & John Paul Gosling, 2020. "Tackling selection bias in sentencing data analysis: a new approach based on a scale of severity," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 1047-1073, June.
    8. Martin Bugeja & Stephanie Fohn & Zoltan Matolcsy & Neil Fargher, 2016. "Determinants of the levels and changes in non-executive director compensation," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(3), pages 627-667, September.
    9. Anna Maaranen & Janne Tienari, 2020. "Social media and hyper‐masculine work cultures," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1127-1144, November.
    10. Michal Plaček & Martin Schmidt & František Ochrana & Michal Půček, 2017. "Do the Selected Characteristics of Public Tenders Affect the Likelihood of Filing Petitions with the Regulators of Public Tenders?," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2017(3), pages 317-329.
    11. Ezeokonkwo Mercy A. & Onwosi Ekene L. & Odimegwu Damian C. & Okafor Sunday N. & Eze Cosmas C. & Amaechi Dominic C. & Attah Solomon I. & Okpareke Obinna C., 2021. "Novel Butan-2-ylidene Benzohydrazides; Synthesis, Antimicrobial Evaluation and Molecular Docking Study," International Journal of Sciences, Office ijSciences, vol. 10(02), pages 13-21, February.
    12. Anna Shaleva, 2015. "Uncovering the impact of intergenerational income mobility on interpersonal trust," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Yael Barel-Ben David & Erez S Garty & Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, 2020. "Can scientists fill the science journalism void? Online public engagement with science stories authored by scientists," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, January.
    14. Irit Keynan, 2016. "Is neoliberalism consistent with individual liberty? Friedman, Hayek and Rand on education employment and equality," International Journal of Teaching and Education, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 4(4), pages 30-47, December.
    15. Giovanni Litt & Mattia Bertin & Vittore Negretto & Francesco Musco, 2022. "Reinterpreting Spatial Planning Cultures to Define Local Adaptation Cultures: A Methodology from the Central Veneto Region Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-31, June.
    16. Nikolov, Plamen & Adelman, Alan, 2019. "Do private household transfers to the elderly respond to public pension benefits? Evidence from rural China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    17. Dana Benešová & Viera Kubičková & Miroslava Prváková, 2020. "Open innovation model in the knowledge intensive business services in the Slovak Republic," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 8(2), pages 1340-1358, December.
    18. Valentina Vučković & Ružica Šimić Banović & Martina Basarac Sertić, 2021. "Governance Trends among New EU Member States: Is There Institutional Convergence?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Walter E. BLOCK & Michael R. EDELSTEIN, 2020. "Rejoinder To Nelson On Nature Preserves," Romanian Economic Business Review, Romanian-American University, vol. 15(1), pages 46-56, March.
    20. Holzmann, Robert & Alonso-García, Jennifer & Labit-Hardy, Heloise & Villegas, Andres M., 2017. "NDC Schemes and Heterogeneity in Longevity: Proposals for Redesign," IZA Discussion Papers 11193, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:74:y:2015:i:1:p:29-62. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.