Versions of libertarianism dedicated to self-ownership and private property rights.

What is it about?

There is no single libertarian platform. Most libertarians are united in endorsing a right to self-ownership while “right” and “left” libertarians disagree about the proper conception of property rights. Authors like Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Richard Epstein do not start from a right to self-ownership. Though, these authors are perhaps better classified as classical liberals than libertarians and this article will just examine libertarian doctrines. At least, this article will consider versions of libertarianism that are committed to different conceptions of self-ownership and private property rights. First, it will consider how these versions of libertarianism might be justified. Next, it will explain how different versions of libertarianism entail different commitments regarding global distributive justice. Finally, it will examine several of the main arguments in the global justice literature against the most familiar version of (right) libertarianism.

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