From: RO
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2016 10:41 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Libertarianism and Veganism

I had a small email debate with you on libertarianism and veganism about 5 1/2 years ago after I became a vegan. Rothbard classifies/separates homo sapiens from other non-human animals by neurological ability and reproductive species in chapter 21 of The Ethics of Liberty. Wouldn’t having a neurological system classification/separation (that separates most of the Animalia Kingdom from Plants, Fungi, Viruses, Bacteria and so on.) be better than neurological ability? Wouldn’t Rothbard’s neurological ability classification allow humans to murder/eat “mentally handicapped” humans? Wouldn’t it also be better than classifying/separating by reproductive species, which has no specific justification, and would allow an Alien genocide against humans? Wouldn’t an Alien genocide against humans be anti-Libertarian?
Best Regards, RO

Dear RO: Thanks for this important and interesting challenge. I think Murray was correct in his application of libertarian theory to this issue. First, we go by species, not neurological ability. So, all humans are rights bearing entities even babied, mentally handicapped humans, etc. Second, we are rights bearing people, because we can respect rights and petition for them (when the lion kills the zebra, we do not think him guilty of murder). So, if a super duper alien group killed humans, they would be in the wrong, since they violated rights. Similarly, if we were more powerful than the Martians, but they were capable of respecting our rights and petitioning us for them, then we would be obligated to respect their rights, no matter what they looked like.

The Best of Walter E. Block