Oleh: Chris Matthew Sciabarra. Teks aslinya berjudul “The First Libertarian” Diterjemahkan ke dalam Bahasa Indonesia oleh Iman Amirullah. (*Sebenarnya libertarian “dialektis” pertama!) Dalam review singkatnya atas The Political Philosophy of Herbert Spencer, Timothy Virkkala (Mei 1999) memuji diskusi Tim S. Gray tentang metodologi liberal klasik yang hebat sebagai sintesis dari pendekatan “individualis” dan “holistik” dalam…

Labadie Reviews Nock Our Enemy, the State, by Albert Jay Nock* Mr. Nock begins with the vital distinction between the State and society, showing in the course of his work, that the State, every State, originated and functions for only one purpose—conquest and economic exploitation. Although resting upon violence, the State, in the final analysis,…

Illuminating Discord: An interview with Robert Anton Wilson By Jane Talisman and Eric Geislinger (Columbia Region New Libertarian Alliance) (Originally published in New Libertarian Notes/Weekly 39, September 5, 1976; reprinted at RAWillumination.net) CRNLA: Tell us a little about your background. RAW: I was born into a working class Irish Catholic family in Brooklyn 44 years…

Stephen Kinzer discusses how safe the U.S. is. Nick Turse discusses the battlefield of tomorrow. Laurence M. Vance discusses how the state needs servants to do its dirty work. Ivan Eland discusses how Obama’s nuclear agreement is a good one but issues remain. Justin Raimondo discusses why we can’t limit government without limiting foreign intervention….

Maybe I’m being unreasonable, but I think it behooves a critic to understand what he’s criticizing. I realize that tackling straw men is much easier than dealing with challenging arguments, but that’s no excuse for the shoddy work we find in John Edward Terrell’s New York Times post, “Evolution and the American Myth of the…

Lee Fang discusses the funders of pro-war punditry. Dan Sanchez discusses Tolkien, Plato, and the state. Kevin Carson discusses the controversy over Burger King. Darian Worden reviews a book about the Modern School movement. Shamus Cooke discusses Progressive Democrats going to war. Patrick Cockburn discusses fear of ISIS. Laurence M. Vance discusses the legalization of…

With the United States on the verge of another war in the Middle East — or is it merely the continuation of a decades-long war? — we libertarians need to reacquaint ourselves with our intellectual heritage of peace, antimilitarism, and anti-imperialism. This rich heritage is too often overlooked and frequently not appreciated at all. That…

“For the last century, or more, we have been experimenting with the rule of democracy–the bludgeoning by governors whom majorities, drunk with power, impose on vanquished minorities. This last is probably the worst of all, for we stand to-day steeped to the lips in a universal corruption that is rotting every nation to the core….

On August 28th I wrote a column for LRC titled “Herbert Spencer: The Defamation Continues,” in which I criticized Edwin Black’s book War Against the Weak for its misrepresentation of the 19th-century classical liberal theorist Herbert Spencer. On October 11th I received the following bizarre note from Mr. Black: I have sent these to two others in your circle and I send it…

It has long been open season on Herbert Spencer (1820–1903). Perhaps because he was the 19th century’s most prominent defender of individual liberty and critic of the violence of the state, Spencer has always been the object of hatred and distortion; indeed, it sometimes seems that no accusation is too bizarre to be leveled against him. (George H. Smith has cited…

Probably no intellectual has suffered more distortion and abuse than Spencer. He is continually condemned for things he never said — indeed, he is taken to task for things he explicitly denied. The target of academic criticism is usually the mythical Spencer rather than the real Spencer; and although some critics may derive immense satisfaction…

(*Actually, the first “dialectical” libertarian!) In his short review of The Political Philosophy of Herbert Spencer, Timothy Virkkala (May 1999) praises Tim S. Gray’s discussion of the great classical liberal’s methodology as a synthesis of “individualist” and “holist” approaches to social theory. But Virkkala remarks This method–I’m tempted to call it “dialectical,” but Spencer’s prose…

For every copy of Herbert Spencer’s “The Right to Ignore the State” that you purchase through the Distro, C4SS will receive a percentage.