# *The Ethics of Liberty* (1982) Back to [[Murray Rothbard]] · [[Bibliography]] · Popular companion: [[For a New Liberty (1973)]] · Cited in [[Post Analysis - Handre on Rothbard (2026-10-21)]] **What it is:** Rothbard's systematic political philosophy. It derives a complete libertarian legal code from natural law and self-ownership. First published by Humanities Press (Atlantic Highlands, NJ) in **1982**; reissued by NYU Press in 1998 with a long introduction by [[Hans-Hermann Hoppe]]. Gordon calls it "his major study of political philosophy." Hoppe calls it "Rothbard's second magnum opus," the ethical "pillar" that complements the economics of [[Man, Economy, and State (1962)]] ([EoL PDF](https://cdn.mises.org/The%20Ethics%20of%20Liberty_2.pdf); [Gordon](https://mises.org/profile/murray-n-rothbard)). @Handre's date of 1982 is correct. **Method:** Aristotelian and Thomist **natural law**. Ethics can be known by reason from human nature. This explicitly departs from [[Ludwig von Mises|Mises's]] view that ultimate values are subjective ([Gordon](https://mises.org/profile/murray-n-rothbard)). ## Outline *Chapter titles in Parts I–III are reconstructed from running headers because the PDF's contents page has a font-encoding fault. Parts IV–V are taken from the contents page.* **Part I: Introduction: Natural Law** 1. Natural Law and Reason 2. Natural Law as "Science" 3. Natural Law versus Positive Law 4. Natural Law and Natural Rights 5. The Task of Political Philosophy **Part II: A Theory of Liberty** 6. A Crusoe Social Philosophy. Rights first worked out for an isolated individual: self-ownership and appropriation of nature. 7. Interpersonal Relations: Voluntary Exchange 8. Interpersonal Relations: Ownership and Aggression. The universal self-ownership principle versus slavery or communal ownership. 9. Property and Criminality. Just and unjust titles; restitution to the victim. 10. The Problem of Land Theft. Feudal and colonial land grants; restoring stolen land to homesteaders. 11. Land Monopoly, Past and Present 12. Self-Defense. Proportionate force. 13. Punishment and Proportionality. Retribution plus restitution. Wikipedia reports that this part of the book argues police may beat or torture a suspected murderer to obtain information, and are exonerated if he proves guilty. 14. **Children and Rights.** Parents have no enforceable duty to feed, clothe or educate a child: "the purely free society will have a flourishing free market in children" (quoted by [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard)). This is one of the most criticised passages in his work. 15. "Human Rights" as Property Rights. Free speech and similar rights reduce to property rights. 16. Knowledge, True and False. Libel and slander should not be actionable. 17. Bribery 18. The Boycott 19. **Property Rights and the Theory of Contracts.** The title-transfer theory of contract; no enforcement of mere promises; voluntary slavery contracts are unenforceable because the will is inalienable. 20. Lifeboat Situations 21. The Rights of Animals. Animals have none. **Part III: The State versus Liberty** 22. **The Nature of the State.** "Taxation is theft, purely and simply, even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State's inhabitants, or subjects" (pp. 162–63). The state as "a band of robbers" (after Augustine). 23. The Inner Contradictions of the State 24. The Moral Status of Relations to the State. "Lying to the State, then, also becomes a fortiori morally legitimate." 25. On Relations Between States. Isolationism; just and unjust war. **Part IV: Modern Alternative Theories of Liberty** 26. Utilitarian Free-Market Economics. A. Utilitarian social philosophy; B. the unanimity and compensation principles; **C. "Ludwig von Mises and 'Value-Free' Laissez Faire."** Mises's case for the market fails as ethics because it rests on utilitarian, subjective values. 27. Isaiah Berlin on Negative Freedom 28. F. A. Hayek and the Concept of Coercion. Hayek's rule-of-law definition of coercion lets in too much state action. 29. **Robert Nozick and the Immaculate Conception of the State.** A reply to *Anarchy, State, and Utopia* (1974): no minimal state can emerge legitimately from an anarchic starting point. **Part V: Toward a Theory of Strategy for Liberty** 30. Toward a Theory of Strategy for Liberty ## Significance - It is the "philosophical scaffolding" @Handre describes. It also documents the **break with Mises on ethics**, which the post's "accepted every word" glosses over. - Hoppe's introduction says Rothbard's achievement included "repairing the few remaining inconsistencies in the Misesian system (such as his theory of monopoly prices and of government and governmental security production)." This is the closest documented support for the post's "destination Mises never reached." - Hoppe also names the sources of his anarchism: "Inspired in particular by… Lysander Spooner and Benjamin Tucker and the Belgian economist Gustave de Molinari." - SEP treats Rothbard as the leading natural-rights anarcho-capitalist, and the main foil for Nozick's minimal-state argument ([SEP](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/libertarianism/)). ## Sources - Full text (NYU 1998 / Mises Institute ed., with Hoppe introduction): https://cdn.mises.org/The%20Ethics%20of%20Liberty_2.pdf - Wikipedia, "The Ethics of Liberty": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ethics_of_Liberty - Wikipedia, "Murray Rothbard" (children; torture passages): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard - Gordon biography: https://mises.org/profile/murray-n-rothbard - SEP, "Libertarianism": https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/libertarianism/