Left-libertarianism

This article is about the type of libertarianism stressing both individual freedom and social equality. For the socialist anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarian philosophy, see Libertarian socialism.
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Left-libertarianism,[1] also known as left-wing libertarianism,[2] is a political philosophy and type of libertarianism that stresses both individual freedom and social equality. Left-libertarianism represents several related yet distinct approaches to political and social theory. Its classical usage refers to anti-authoritarian varieties of left-wing politics such as anarchism, especially social anarchism.[3]

While right-libertarianism is widely seen as synonymous with libertarianism in the United States, left-libertarianism is the predominant form of libertarianism in Europe.[4] In the United States, left-libertarianism is the term used for the left wing of the libertarian movement,[3] including the political positions associated with academic philosophers Hillel Steiner, Philippe Van Parijs, and Peter Vallentyne that combine self-ownership with an egalitarian approach to natural resources.[5] Although libertarianism in the United States has become associated with classical liberalism and minarchism, with right-libertarianism being more known than left-libertarianism,[6] political usage of the term libertarianism until then was associated exclusively with anti-capitalism, libertarian socialism, and social anarchism; in most parts of the world, such an association still predominates.[3][7]

Left-libertarians are skeptical of, or fully against, private ownership of natural resources, arguing, in contrast to right-libertarians, that neither claiming nor mixing one's labor with natural resources is enough to generate full private property rights, and they maintain that natural resources should be held in an egalitarian manner, either unowned or owned collectively.[8] Those left-libertarians who are more lenient towards private property support different property norms and theories, such as usufruct[9] or under the condition that recompense is offered to the local or even global community.[10][11]

Like other forms of libertarianism, left-libertarian views on the state range from minarchism, which argues for a decentralised and limited government, to anarchism, which advocates for the state to be abolished entirely.[12]

  1. ^ Carlson 2012, p. 1006; Goodway 2006, p. 4; Marshall 2008, p. 641.
  2. ^ Spitz, Jean-Fabien (March 2006). "Left-wing libertarianism: equality based on self-ownership". Raisons Politiques. 23 (3). Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Long 2012, p. 227.
  4. ^ Carlson 2012, pp. 1006–1007.
  5. ^ Long 2012, p. 227; Kymlicka 2005, p. 516.
  6. ^ Carlson 2012, p. 1009.
  7. ^ Bookchin, Murray; Biehl, Janet (1997). The Murray Bookchin Reader. London: Cassell. p. 170. ISBN 0-304-33873-7.
  8. ^ Carlson, Jennifer D. (2012). "Libertarianism". In Miller, Wilbur R. The social history of crime and punishment in America. London: Sage Publications. p. 1007. ISBN 1-4129-8876-4. "Left-libertarians disagree with right-libertarians with respect to property rights, arguing instead that individuals have no inherent right to natural resources. Namely, these resources must be treated as collective property that is made available on an egalitarian basis".
  9. ^ Carson, Kevin. "An Introduction to Left-Libertarianism". Center for a Stateless Society. Archived from the original on 2019-09-03. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  10. ^ Vallentyne, Peter (March 2009). "Libertarianism". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2009 ed.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2010. Libertarianism is committed to full self-ownership. A distinction can be made, however, between right-libertarianism and left-libertarianism, depending on the stance taken on how natural resources can be owned.
  11. ^ Narveson, Jan; Trenchard, David (2008). "Left Libertarianism". In Hamowy, Ronald (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Cato Institute. pp. 288–289. doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n174. ISBN 978-1-4129-6580-4. LCCN 2008009151. OCLC 750831024. Archived from the original on 2023-01-09. Retrieved 2016-03-18. Left libertarians regard each of us as full self-owners. However, they differ from what we generally understand by the term libertarian in denying the right to private property. We own ourselves, but we do not own nature, at least not as individuals. Left libertarians embrace the view that all natural resources, land, oil, gold, and so on should be held collectively. To the extent that individuals make use of these commonly owned goods, they must do so only with the permission of society, a permission granted only under the proviso that a certain payment for their use be made to society at large.
  12. ^ Carlson 2012, p. 1006; Marshall 2008, pp. 641–642.