The Mises Community
An online community for fans of Austrian economics and libertarianism, featuring forums, user blogs, and more.

Deontological vs consequentialist libertarians

This post has 112 Replies | 14 Followers

Top 10 Contributor
Male
Posts 2,751
Points 149,610

I. Ryan:

laminustacitus:

The body is not "owned" in the sense that material objects are; rather, it is a physical extension of one's being. 

The body of an individual is the individual.

Which is precisely why the dualism of "self-ownership" makes no sense. Ownership means an individual's control over something external to them. They cannot both be the controller and the controlled at the same time.

  • | Post Points: 35
Top 10 Contributor
Male
Posts 2,751
Points 149,610

Knight_of_BAAWA:

laminustacitus:
Your "ownership" of yourself, and your ownership of external objects are on two different levels: while one can be alienated by force, one cannot.
There's slavery, both voluntary and involuntary.

And we go from owning ourselves to owning external objects quite easily.

"Voluntary slavery" is an anti-concept used to justify plain old slavery. Let's not go here again, shall we?

  • | Post Points: 20
Top 50 Contributor
Posts 575
Points 10,315
I. Ryan replied on Tue, Sep 8 2009 2:44 PM

Brainpolice:

Two thumbs up for realizing this distiction, which gets at the dualistic flaw of "self-ownership".

[...]

Which is precisely why the dualism of "self-ownership" makes no sense. Ownership means an individual's control over something external to them. They cannot both be the controller and the controlled at the same time.

No one has determined how to even approach the problem of monization of the distinction between mind and matter. That distinction is therefore irrelevant because the terms which we use reflect our inability to monize that distinction. Your post reveals that you either did not read my previous post or you did not read my previous post adequately because I addressed, implicitly, at the least, your objection. Read this portion:

I. Ryan:

And if I completely overpower your entire body except your mind while you are still conscious and I force you to move in certain ways, I would effectively seize control of your body but not your mind.

Notice that I explicitly said "except your mind [...] but not your mind". As I already mentioned, the terms which we use reflect our inability to unify the theory of mind and the theory of matter. The term "property" applies only to physical objects. It describes a physical object which a purposeful entity either (1) controls or (2) has the 'right' to control. Your body is a physical object which one can either (1) control or (2) have the 'right' to control and, therefore, your body is a physical object which can be property.

  • | Post Points: 5
Top 50 Contributor
Posts 575
Points 10,315
I. Ryan replied on Tue, Sep 8 2009 4:28 PM

In this post, I will attempt to better explain my position.

Brainpolice:

Which is precisely why the dualism of "self-ownership" makes no sense. Ownership means an individual's control over something external to them. They cannot both be the controller and the controlled at the same time.

If we define an individual via the specific nature of their consciousness, the body of an individual is an "external" object which the individual can (1) completely control or (2) partially control or (3) not control.

I merely claimed that one can consider the body of oneself to be property and not that one can consider the consciousness of oneself to be property. I, however, completely understand the contradiction which exists between those two propositions: If one assumes that the consciousness of an entity arises via the specific spacial arrangement of the fundamental physical constituents of the body of that entity, one must also assume that to completely own the body of oneself implies to completely own the consciousness of oneself. That contradiction, however, is unavoidable because we have yet to close the gap which resides between our knowledge of mind and our knowledge of matter; at this point, we must acquiesce to a methodologically dualistic worldview: a worldview which separates the natural sciences and the praxeological sciences, mechanical movement and purposive action, matter and mind, physical things and psychical things.

If one claims that oneself "controls the thoughts of oneself", such a claim is, at the least, merely metaphorical and, at the most, nonsensical because if one "controls the thoughts of oneself", what controls what controls the thoughts of oneself? and what controls what controls what controls the thoughts of oneself? et cetera ad infinitum. On this path, therefore, you necessarily encounter an infinite regression, a regression which human reason cannot exhaust. This infinite regression corresponds to the infinite regression one encounters when one attempts to describe the existence of the universe via a creator: what created the creator? and what created what created the creator? et cetera ad infinitum. Both the existence of consciousness and the existence of the universe, therefore, are ultimate givens, data which one cannot describe via more fundamental data and can instead only describe via the interrelations among the constituents of that data.

The terms which we use, therefore, must reflect that gap, the present inability to unify the theory of matter and the theory of mind. If an object is property, that implies that some one controls that object and in order to avoid the infinite regression which I described in the previous paragraph, one must not describe the consciousness of oneself as property. But this distinction does not disallow us to describe each of our physical bodies as property because, in the case of our physical body, no such infinite regression occurs: What controls your body? Your consciousness.

  • | Post Points: 5
Top 25 Contributor
Posts 2,480
Points 39,915
Moderator

Brainpolice:
"Voluntary slavery" is an anti-concept used to justify plain old slavery.
No it isn't. Take it up with Walter Block.

Have fun. Go whine. Don't care.

  • | Post Points: 5
Top 25 Contributor
Posts 2,480
Points 39,915
Moderator

GilesStratton:
Hardly, I just happen to care about people.
And you advocate tyranny and lie about the NAP not being coherently defined.

Time to grow up, Giles.

  • | Post Points: 35
Top 50 Contributor
Posts 575
Points 10,315
I. Ryan replied on Tue, Sep 8 2009 7:44 PM

Knight_of_BAAWA:

And you advocate tyranny and lie about the NAP not being coherently defined.

Time to grow up, Giles.

If the instillation of anarchy would cause mass impoverishment and death, would you still advocate anarchy? If the instillation of anarchy would cause continuous and brutal war among religious factions, would you still advocate anarchy?

  • | Post Points: 20
Top 25 Contributor
Posts 1,307
Points 23,605

Does it not bother you your whole ethics collapse if someone simply rejects self-ownership?

Do you not have something more convincing?

  • | Post Points: 35
Top 25 Contributor
Posts 2,480
Points 39,915
Moderator

scineram:
Does it not bother you your whole ethics collapse if someone simply rejects self-ownership?
No, since it doesn't collapse.

Do you have anything more convincing?

 

  • | Post Points: 5
Top 25 Contributor
Posts 2,480
Points 39,915
Moderator

I. Ryan:
If the instillation of anarchy would cause mass impoverishment and death, would you still advocate anarchy? If the instillation of anarchy would cause continuous and brutal war among religious factions, would you still advocate anarchy?
If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

 

  • | Post Points: 20
Top 50 Contributor
Posts 575
Points 10,315
I. Ryan replied on Tue, Sep 8 2009 8:12 PM

Knight_of_BAAWA:

If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

If you were certain about your position, you would provide an unambiguous answer.

  • | Post Points: 20
Top 50 Contributor
Posts 575
Points 10,315
I. Ryan replied on Tue, Sep 8 2009 8:12 PM

scineram:

Does it not bother you your whole ethics collapse if someone simply rejects self-ownership?

Do you not have something more convincing?

Who are you addressing?

  • | Post Points: 5
Top 25 Contributor
Posts 2,480
Points 39,915
Moderator

I. Ryan:
If you were certain about your position, you would provide an unambiguous answer.
I am certain, and I exposed the problem with your question. Here's what you asked "What if you added 1 with another 1 and got 3"?

 

  • | Post Points: 20
Top 50 Contributor
Posts 575
Points 10,315
I. Ryan replied on Tue, Sep 8 2009 8:48 PM

Knight_of_BAAWA:

I am certain, and I exposed the problem with your question. Here's what you asked "What if you added 1 with another 1 and got 3"?

You have successfully reached a new level of dogmatism.

  • | Post Points: 20
Top 25 Contributor
Posts 2,480
Points 39,915
Moderator

That's nice. And I'm going to give your opinion all the consideration it deserves, i.e. none whatsoever.

  • | Post Points: 50
Top 500 Contributor
Male
Posts 56
Points 995

I am a libertarian (more or less), but I am neither a deontologist nor consequentialist.

A criticism that can be brought against everything ought not to be brought against anything.
  • | Post Points: 35
Top 10 Contributor
Male
Posts 2,809
Points 49,955
Moderator

Knight_of_BAAWA:

That's nice. And I'm going to give your opinion all the consideration it deserves, i.e. none whatsoever.

Apparently you are too dogmatic because you won't drop libertarianism over a hypothetical situation Stick out tongue

'It is difficult to imagine any normal person wishing to meet Marx for a third time.' - Alexander Gray, The Socialist Tradition

  • | Post Points: 5
Top 10 Contributor
Male
Posts 2,809
Points 49,955
Moderator

Lee Kelly:

I am a libertarian (more or less), but I am neither a deontologist nor consequentialist.

So you are a libertarian for no reason? That's cool I guess.

'It is difficult to imagine any normal person wishing to meet Marx for a third time.' - Alexander Gray, The Socialist Tradition

  • | Post Points: 20
Top 50 Contributor
Posts 575
Points 10,315
I. Ryan replied on Tue, Sep 8 2009 9:16 PM

Knight_of_BAAWA:

That's nice. And I'm going to give your opinion all the consideration it deserves, i.e. none whatsoever.

What is your problem?

  • | Post Points: 5
Top 25 Contributor
Posts 2,480
Points 39,915
Moderator

Lee Kelly:
I am a libertarian (more or less), but I am neither a deontologist nor consequentialist.
Ok...what are you, then?

 

  • | Post Points: 5
Page 5 of 6 (113 items) « First ... < Previous 2 3 4 5 6 Next > | RSS

Ludwig von Mises Institute | 518 West Magnolia Avenue | Auburn, Alabama 36832-4528

Phone: 334.321.2100 · Fax: 334.321.2119

contact@Mises.org | webmaster | AOL-IM MainMises

Mises.org sitemap