Libertarianism

Abstract

This paper is an encyclopedia entry on the political philosophy of libertarianism, written for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. It discusses the major contemporary strands of libertarianism and their historical roots, and presents some of the main criticisms of these strands. Its focus is on libertarianism as a doctrine about distributive justice and political authority, and specifically on the consequentialist and natural rights formulations of these views.

Keywords: libertarianism, Nozick, consequentialism, natural rights, political philosophy, distributive justice, political authority

JEL Classification: P16