Principles of libertarianism
Categories: Home -> Libertarianism
This article is part of the Basic Course on Libertarianism and the Austrian School of Economics-> Module 2: Libertarianism and its ethical foundations
Principles of libertarianism
- The fundamental principles of libertarianism are: Right to life, liberty, and private property
- from the application of the above rights we derive the Non-aggression principle
- from the application of the above rights we derive the concept of Free Market
Right to life, liberty, and private property
From classical libertarianism, the three rights form an inseparable triad and are summed up in a single formula:
- “You have an absolute right to your life, your liberty, and your property, so long as you do not aggress against the life, liberty, or property of others.”
1. Life:
- No one may kill you, enslave you, or force you to serve.
- It is the fundamental right to physical existence and to self-ownership (being owner of one’s own body and person).
- It implies the absolute prohibition of physical aggression and of being used as an involuntary means for the ends of others, including the State. It is the basis for being able to exercise any other right.
- Legitimate defense: If someone attempts to violate your right to life, you have the right to defend yourself with proportional force (even lethal). The State does not have an absolute monopoly on defensive violence.
2. Liberty:
- You may do what you want with what is yours, without coercion, so long as you do not interfere with the liberty of others.
- It is negative liberty, that is, the absence of coercion or interference by the State or by third parties.
- It allows the individual to choose their own life project, beliefs, and actions without being obstructed, so long as they do not aggress against the rights (life, liberty, or property) of others.
- Freedom of expression without limits (except direct incitement to violence): You may say anything, even if offensive, false, or “dangerous.” There is no “hate crime” if there is no credible threat. The State does not censor, nor regulate “disinformation,” nor impose “inclusive language.”
- Voluntary contract: you may sell your time, your body (prostitution), your future (debt), but you may not sell yourself as a slave (inalienable).
3. Property:
- What you produce or acquire by contract is yours forever.
- It is the material extension of an individual’s life and liberty over external resources.
- It is justified because the individual mixes their labor (their effort, which is property of their person) with resources, making them their own. It is crucial because it guarantees the means necessary for the individual to pursue their life project without depending on political will or state arbitrariness.
Non-aggression principle
- No one may initiate AGGRESSION (through the use of physical force or violence, threats, or fraud) against another person or their property.
- All exchanges are voluntary.
1. Prohibition of the initiation of aggression
The rule focuses specifically on the initiation of aggression. This means that force is only legitimate as a response to prior aggression, that is, in defense of oneself or of property.
- Aggression Defined: Aggression is defined in broad terms, including:
- Physical Violence (murder, assault).
- Threat of Violence (“give me your money or I will shoot you”).
- Fraud (a form of non-physical coercion that nullifies consent).
- Invasion of Property (theft, vandalism, or intrusion without consent).
2. Relation to the state
There are several positions regarding the relation between the State and the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP), depending on the libertarian branch:
For anarcho-capitalism:
- The State is, by definition, the institution that systematically violates the NAP. That is, there is no voluntary exchange; the citizen cannot choose whom to pay for its services; they must forcibly accept what the State imposes or go to prison.
- “The State is the only entity that can (through taxes) legally steal, enslave, and kill… and for that reason it is incompatible with the NAP.”
For minarchism:
Minarchists recognize that the taxes to finance that minimal state remain coercive (and many call them “theft” in a rhetorical sense). But they argue that it is the necessary lesser evil and that it does not violate the NAP in its essence because:
- The minimal state arises (theoretically) from a voluntary protection market that naturally monopolizes (Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia).
- Or because without it the NAP would collapse for lack of effective protection (Rand).
Note: The discussion of the State is left for other chapters within the course.
Summary
| Doctrine | Relation to the NAP and the State |
|---|---|
| Classical libertarianism | Legitimate state if it only defends the NAP |
| Minarchism | Minimal state, only to stop aggression from a state without police or military defense |
| Anarcho-capitalism | The State violates the NAP → it must be abolished |
Free market
The free market is the central economic principle of libertarianism, which seeks to transfer individual liberty and the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) to the realm of commercial transactions.
It is defined as an economic system where the price of goods and services is determined exclusively by the voluntary interaction between supply and demand, without any interference, coercion, or regulation imposed by an external authority (the State).
Basically, “free market” means “100% voluntary transactions”.
In a free market:
- Individuals choose what to produce, buy, sell, or work at
- Prices are determined by supply and demand
- Private property is respected
- Transactions are voluntary and contractual
- Competition arises naturally, not by state imposition
The free market is economic liberty applied: cooperation without coercion.
Conclusion
Libertarianism is an ideology that:
- Places hope in the intelligence and action of a free man.
- The unbreakable law is to respect the liberty of others, and within compliance with that rule everything is possible.
- Within the law, NO ONE is told what they must do or how to behave; this is basically trusting and having hope in the human being; it is giving the human being the opportunity to grow and reach their maximum splendor.
- It is also an ideology that forces the human being to grow and mature; it pushes them to stop being a child who needs the constant help of their parents (or the state)
That is why, in the writer’s judgment, libertarianism is today the best existing ideology for our species. Surely in the future better alternatives and improvements to the ideology will be found, but today it is the best we have.
This article is part of the Basic Course on Libertarianism and the Austrian School of Economics-> Module 2: Libertarianism and its ethical foundations
| Previous topic | Next topic | |
|---|---|---|
| <-Ethical basis of Libertarianism | <--> | Origins of libertarianism-> |
Categories: Home -> Libertarianism
Last updated: 2025-11-16
| | | |
This site was written based on publicly available free articles from the internet.
The content of this site is available under the: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
You can freely copy, redistribute and modify the material, as long as the source is mentioned: liberwiki.com