[ExI] Is there a potential libertarianism / democracy tension?

[Dan]

On Thursday, September 29, 2011 9:28 PM F. C. Moulton moulton at moulton.com wrote:
> I would  like to emphasise the point that Dan makes.  Much of the
> recent discussion has been on topics which directly or at least
> partially have been covered decades ago in works like Anarchy,
> State and Utopia by Nozick; and while I and a lot of others do not
> agree with it totally we recognise the value of the work.  For people
> really interested in the topic becoming at least familiar with the basics
> is a good place to start. 

I agree for the most part. I would add that familiarizing oneself with a philosophy does not necessarily means agreeing with or adhering to it. So, one can read Nozick -- and, I hope, read him critically -- and not need to agree with his every word.
 
Where I might disagree is that Nozick's book is a good place to start. I felt the book was a jumble rather than a coherent treatise. My reason for bringing Nozick up, however, was that he was one of the more well known deep thinkers amongst libertarians and he recognized, back in the early 1970s, that libertarianism was not synonymous with democracy and that the two were not necessarily compatible. What's more, Nozick was, at that time, a minarchist. So, unlike Rothbard, who was an anarchist and would naturally have a "tension" with democracy, here was a libertarian who tried to ground government in libertarian principles and yet did see an antagonism or tension with democracy. (And other such well known libertarians who noted this antagonism abound: Rand (even if she wouldn't call herself a libertarian), Hospers, David Friedman, Walter Block, and many more recent thinkers*.)
 
All of this said, Nozick did have an impact -- partly of rebutting Rawls. (Which is not to say Nozick himself wasn't rebutted and, unlike Rawls or even other libertarian luminaries like Rothbard, Nozick never formed a circle around or, to my knowledge, tried his hand at activism. I believe he just wrote the book and moved on to other things.)
 
Regards,
 
Dan
 
* Of course, Friedman (David not Milton), Block, and Hospers are still alive, AFAIK.