Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Block's "evictionism" and the NAP

As I've written before, abortion is an unsettled issue among libertarians. There's been a very good debate between Walter Block and Jakub Wisniewski on Block's theory of "evictionism", and whether or not it's compatible with what libertarians call the Non-aggression Principle (NAP). I thought I'd share the links for your reading pleasure:

Block's rejoinder to Wisniewski - http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-32.pdf
Wisniewski's rejoinder to Block - http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-37.pdf

I think at this point I'm with Wisniewski. I like his throwing "proportionality" in there. If eviction results in death, and with abortion it does, then that isn't proportionate to the baby having trespassed the mother's body. It would be a disproportionate result of righting a wrong (trespass). I still feel Block's theory of evictionism has practical value.

UPDATE August/2011: There has been another round to this debate. Here are the links:

Block's response to Wisniewski, Round 2 - http://libertarianpapers.org/2011/4-block-response-to-wisniewski-on-abortion-round-two/
Wisniewski's response to Block, Round 3 - http://libertarianpapers.org/2011/6-winiewski-response-to-block-on-abortion-round-three/

This has been a very thoughtful debate. On principle, I'm with Wisniewski, but in practice, I'm with Block. I think his theory of evictionism has the best chance of making progress on this critical issue. I believe in time abortion will be unnecessary.

UPDATE September/2012: There has been a round of debate on the libertarian blogosphere ever since Walter Block spoke on evictionism at a Ron Paul rally this month. Here's a synopsis of each position by Jim Davies and he concludes with his own thoughts. I agree with him on "the future". Let's get rid of the state and monopoly law, and then we can work on curing the world of abortion peacefully.
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