Is the Non-Aggression Principle enough?

I haven’t read Hoppe (one of these days I will) but “follow the NAP” is truly not enough to resolve what we all know is “right”.

The NAP is basically just a minimum starting point and minimum requirement for an “ethical guideline” for interaction with others. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a better rule in my opinion. But that requires some active charity in some situations.

No one has the right to force others to do his bidding. We all prefer to do everything voluntarily. Ask a left-fascist (aka “social justice liberal”) to give HIS OWN money.

Another NAP gap is children. Walter Block did a great job of applying the NAP “ruthlessly” to its logical conclusion to come up with “evictionism”, but that falls short of what we all know is the minimum required for a minimal ethical baseline.

By the act of having sex, you take the “risk” of having the blessing (as I call it) of the appearance of a new individual. But as that individual is conceived helpless outside the womb until “viability”, and helpless outside the womb too after birth, the mother AND father have an obligation to that new life with all its implications until he is able to fend for himself.

That obligation can be fulfilled of course by finding adoptive parents that will take care of that child and rear him reasonably well, but one of the basic tenets of libertarian (and anarchist) philosophy is that each one of us must take responsibility for our own actions. The principle of restitution can teach us here that if our act results in the conception of a helpless new person, we owe that new person to care for it.

That principle would not apply strictly to cases of rape, but applies to some 98% of pregnancies. However, even in cases of rape, where it is not the result of a mother’s own action, in the case of an infant, there is still a forcing of harm on that infant (both before and after birth) if the parents neglect the proper care.

However, I still oppose any extraordinary measures to seek out and punish parents for abortions. In this case, cultural shame would be the most effective strategy.

Even more effective is a strong Christian influence, as this has made slavery a dirty word around the world today, along with gladiator battles, extreme baby abuse, and so on.

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Tags: government