Accusations of cruelty are often leveled against Ayn Rand. How accurate is this charge? The answer is a complicated one. One can find traces of both kindness and cruelty in her life/work. Both deserve consideration in formulating a clear perspective. Let’s examine a case of cruelty first: “[The Native Americans] didn’t have any rights to…

Während den späten 1880ern brach eine heftige Debatte über Egoismus vs. Naturrecht im Anarchismus in der libertären Zeitschrift „Liberty“ aus. ( Die verschiedenen Beiträge zu dieser Debatte werden vielleicht in der Online Bibliothek des Molinari Institute verfügbar werden,  in der Zwischenzeit kann man sich für Details Frank H. Brooks „The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881-1908)“…

During the late 1880s, a fierce debate broke out in the pages of the libertarian periodical Liberty over egoistic versus natural-rights approaches to anarchism. (The various contributions to this debate will eventually be available in the Molinari Institute’s online library; in the meantime, for details see Frank H. Brooks’ The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881-1908) or Wendy McElroy’s The Debates of Liberty:…

These are funny times. If some old, obviously doddering anarchist (if they weren’t doddering, they’d never do this!) dares to use the word “libertarian” the way it was used for well over a century, the way it’s still used in many parts of the world, the hip, young anarchists will look at her aghast, all because about…

When I say I am an anarchist, I simply mean that, to the extent that I have the power, I refuse to let anyone or anything dominate me. In other words, I refuse to accept the power of any authority, any institution, any existing or would-be ruler, any ruler, etc., over me. This is why I…