Continuing the conversation with Stargazer

Am I making the same fallacy as that which is in Pascal's Wager?

How will I maintain minarchism?

Who will watch the watchmen?

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• libertarian
• stuff
• anarchism
• anarchy
• liberty

[IndividualAutonomy]

The hiearchy of values and preferences.

[TalkToZeHand]

Good vid. Keep em coming !

[Dabba23]

@ithinkronpaulissmart Words are subjective, but they have commonly accepted definitions. It is not productive to change these definitions on a whim to fit your conception of them. That's the point I was trying to make.

Again, just because states aren't killing us in masses right now does not mean that it is the best we can achieve, even while taking the risks of transition to a different society in account. Noted that you don't think "anarchism" would lead to a better society.

[ithinkronpaulissmart]

@Dabba23

Yeah, I agree. Any word can mean just about anything, depending on what the person means when they use it.

If you want to say the US isn't minarchism, that's fine. My point is that states clearly exist that I am comfortable living in, and would probably prefer over anarchism.

"That doesn't mean that a better society isn't desirable"

This is begging the question. The point is that I don't believe anarchism would lead to a better society.

[Dabba23]

@ithinkronpaulissmart Well, not really. Following your logic, any word can mean just about anything. Minarchism, while not completely specific, is specific enough to be able to say that the modern US state certainly doesn't qualify. I'm not talking about wikipedia, I'm just talking about its generally accepted definition among political theorists. FTR, I also would rather live in the modern US than most other societies in history. That doesn't mean that a better society isn't desirable.

[ithinkronpaulissmart]

@Dabba23 It's really just semantics. States which I would support over anarchism have existed. I live in one. Whether that is minarchism just depends on how you want to define minarchism. According to wikipedia's definition of minarchism, I'm not really a minarchist anyway.

[Dabba23]

@ithinkronpaulissmart Really? Well, if you consider the US to be minarchist...I...I don't know what to say really. Even "relatively", that's a stretch.

[ithinkronpaulissmart]

@skepticalmannn

@skepticalmannn Yes, it's in my interest not to have slaves. The pragmatic benefits of slavery (if they exist) do not outweigh the discomfort I would feel from living in a society with slaves. The pragmatic benefits of a state do outweigh the discomfort I feel from living in a society with some systemic coercion.

The questions I ask are important, because I don't one could be justified in having sufficient confidence with the anarchist answers.

[ithinkronpaulissmart]

@skepticalmannn

watch?v=k3XFOMusidA

Here's a video from Jerry Taylor at the Cato Institute. I think he does a good job at explaining why the traditional libertarian line on the environment hasn't stood the test of time very well. He explains all of this within the first couple minutes of the video.

[ithinkronpaulissmart]

@Dabba23 I consider the United States to be a minarchist state, at least relatively. Pretty free trade. Among the lowest tax rates in the world. Good human rights record. Could be better...