Economist and libertarian David Friedman and Soho Discussion board Director and libertarian Gene Epstein debate the decision, “The best method to persuade individuals of libertarianism is by exhibiting them that its outcomes are superior by their requirements, with none resort to the flawed nonaggression precept.”
Coincidentally, each Friedman and Epstein are 78 years outdated and Jewish. However as Epstein identified in his opening remarks, the comparability ends there. Friedman is the son of the well-known free market Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman and his spouse and collaborator, economist Rose Friedman, and was schooled intensely within the artwork of debate whereas rising up. Epstein, against this, can declare nothing comparable in his personal lineage.
Taking the affirmative, Friedman reviewed key arguments set forth in his e-book, The Equipment of Freedom: Information to a Radical Capitalism, initially revealed in 1973 however issued in up to date editions since then. Although he doesn’t consider that the libertarian’s nonaggression precept, or NAP, is a coherent precept, he additionally defined that one can do with out the NAP in convincing nonlibertarians to simply accept libertarian options to society’s issues.
Taking the destructive, Epstein argued that what he most popular to name the zero-aggression precept, or ZAP, typically performs a vital position in defending the libertarian case for radical reform. He supplied examples, together with abolishing each drug legal guidelines and authorities’s interference with free worldwide commerce. He additionally addressed varied facets of Friedman’s view that ZAP is an incoherent precept.
The talk was held earlier than a stay viewers at midday on June 23 on the Porcupine Freedom Competition (“PorcFest”) in Lancaster, New Hampshire. It was moderated by PorcFest chief Dennis Pratt. As Pratt has stated, the first goal of the six-day occasion is to induce libertarians to maneuver to the “free state” of New Hampshire.
