PHIL 322 Lecture 48: PHIL-322,University of Arizona,Readings(p48)

• School: University of Arizona
• Department: Philosophy Main
• Course: PHIL 322
• Professor: ALL

Document Summary

Cuccinelli depicts a zero-sum trade-off between the liberties of the state and those of its citizens. Three concepts of freedom: negative, positive, and republican. Negative - no one is interfering with your actions. Positive - you have a rich menu of options effectively accessible to you, given your resources. Republican - no one is dominating you you are subject to no one"s arbitrary uncontrollable will. Opportunities positive liberties are vastly greater with the establishment of a system of property rights. Private property rights thus entail massive net losses in negative liberty, relative to the state of maximum negative liberty. Argument from the republican tradition: without robust protection of private property rights a republican form of government is insecure, because the state is liable to degenerate into despotism, exercising arbitrary power over its subjects. The state"s imposition of negative liberty constraints on some people can thereby enhance all three liberties of many more. Workers are subjects to their employers private government.