Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays
Encyclopedia
Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays represents some of libertarian anarchist Murray Rothbard
's most advanced and radical theorizing on topics impacting on human liberty. Appearing first in 1974, this volume looks beyond conventional left-right thinking and hence contributes to the groundwork for the current intellectual challenge against centralized social and economic management.
The book's title comes from the lead essay, which argues that egalitarian theory
always results in a politics of statist
control because it is founded on revolt against the ontological structure of reality itself. According to Rothbard in this lead essay, statist intellectuals attempt to replace what exists with a Romantic image of an idealized primitive state of nature, an ideal which cannot and should not be achieved, according to Rothbard. The implications of this point are worked out on topics such as market economics, child rights, environmentalism, feminism, foreign policy, redistribution and others.
Roy Childs
writes in the Foreword:
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...
's most advanced and radical theorizing on topics impacting on human liberty. Appearing first in 1974, this volume looks beyond conventional left-right thinking and hence contributes to the groundwork for the current intellectual challenge against centralized social and economic management.
The book's title comes from the lead essay, which argues that egalitarian theory
Egalitarianism
Egalitarianism is a trend of thought that favors equality of some sort among moral agents, whether persons or animals. Emphasis is placed upon the fact that equality contains the idea of equity of quality...
always results in a politics of statist
Statism
Statism is a term usually describing a political philosophy, whether of the right or the left, that emphasises the role of the state in politics or supports the use of the state to achieve economic, military or social goals...
control because it is founded on revolt against the ontological structure of reality itself. According to Rothbard in this lead essay, statist intellectuals attempt to replace what exists with a Romantic image of an idealized primitive state of nature, an ideal which cannot and should not be achieved, according to Rothbard. The implications of this point are worked out on topics such as market economics, child rights, environmentalism, feminism, foreign policy, redistribution and others.
Roy Childs
Roy Childs
Roy A. Childs, Jr. was an American libertarian essayist and critic.Childs counted among his early influences Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, Rose Wilder Lane, and Robert LeFevre....
writes in the Foreword:
"For until Rothbard's work is carefully studied by every advocate of liberty, the value of his contributions to the libertarian system cannot be fully appreciated and, moreover, the unity and true historical context of libertarianism will not even be fully grasped."
Table of contents
- Prefaces
- Introduction to the Second Edition, by David Gordon (2000)
- Introduction to the First Edition, by Murray Rothbard (1974)
- Foreword to the 1974 Edition, by Roy A. Childs, Jr. (Full text in HTML)
- Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature (Full chapter text in HTML format
- Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty (Full chapter text in HTML format, slightly edited)
- The Anatomy of the State (Full chapter text in HTML format)
- Justice and Property Rights
- War, Peace, and the State
- The Fallacy of the Public Sector
- Kid Lib
- The Great Women's Liberation Issue: Setting it Straight
- Conservation in the Free Market
- The Meaning of Revolution
- National Liberation
- Anarcho-Communism
- The Spooner-Tucker Doctrine: An Economist's View
- Ludwig von Mises and the Paradigm for Our Age
- Why Be Libertarian?
- Freedom, Inequality, Primitivism, and the Division of Labor (Full chapter text in HTML format) Link also includes a 6-part postscript (Introduction and parts I-V) written circa 1991.
Publishing history
- Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig von Mises InstituteLudwig von Mises InstituteThe Ludwig von Mises Institute , based in Auburn, Alabama, is a libertarian academic organization engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. Its scholarship is inspired by the work of Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises...
. 2000. Paperback. ISBN 0-945466-23-4. - Washington, D.C.: Libertarian ReviewLibertarian ReviewLibertarian Review was a libertarian magazine published until 1981. It had been established by Robert Kephart in 1972 as a book-review magazine, initially titled SIL Book Review , then Books for Libertarians, and was renamed with the October, 1974 issue...
Press. June 1974.