A Libertarian Argument Against Opening Borders

Tags War and Foreign PolicyPhilosophy and Methodology

07/30/2014John Hospers

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The right of one person necessarily entails the obligation of another person or persons. If you have a right to life, I have the obligation not to kill you; if you have a right of free speech, I have the obligation not to stop you from speaking. The first half would be pointless without the second. If any given person has the right to enter the United States, who is it that has the obligation? Every person in the United States? Or only the person whose property the immigrant wishes to inhabit? Or perhaps, no one person in the United States, only the U.S. government, even if no individual in the U. S. wants him.

Volume 13, Number 2 (1998)

Author:

John Hospers

John Hospers is Professor Emeritus in Philosophy at the University of Southern California and author of such important philosophical texts as Meaning and Truth in the Arts, Human Conduct, and An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis. His numerous philosophical essays are well known for their clear and careful style. As editor of The Personalist, John Hospers opened the pages of that highly respected philosophy journal to a generation of young thinkers interested in basic questions of liberty. He also authored a now classic statement on behalf of liberty in his work Libertarianism. In 1972, John Hospers served as the first Libertarian Party candidate for President. He has served from then until now as a reference point and inspiration for scholars interested in basic questions of liberty.

Cite This Article

Hospers, John. "A Libertarian Argument Against Opening Borders." Journal of Libertarian Studies 13, No. 2 (1998): 153–165.

The Journal of Libertarian Studies