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CIAO DATE: 03/02
Critical Review
What's Not Wrong with Libertarianism: Reply to Friedman
By Tom G. Palmer
Abstract
In his critique of modern libertarian thinking, Jeffrey Friedman (1997) argues that libertarian moral theory makes social science irrelevant. However, if its moral claims are hypothetical rather than categorical imperatives, then economics, history, sociology, and other disciplines play a central role in libertarian thought. Limitations on human knowledge necessitate abstractly formulated rules, among which are claims of rights. Further, Friedman's remarks on freedom rest on an erroneous understanding of the role of definitions in philosophy, and his characterization of the "right to do wrong" as a "logical contradiction" reveals a misunderstanding of logic.