Is David Friedman an Anarchist? Yes. A Good One? No.
From: DS
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2016 7:13 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Anarcho Capitalist reading list
Dr. Block, I saw your Anarcho Capitalism biblio on anarcho capitalism on LewRockwell.com. An anarcho capitalist biblio that is inclusive should include David Friedman, even though Rothbard’s assessment is that Friedman does not hate the state to the right level and Friedman thinks Rothbard’s hate led him to intellectual dishonesty. My young granddaughter reads both Friedman and Rothbard. Her dad is a fan of Rothbard. Machinery of Freedom came out when I was in grad school and it influenced me. Somehow we enjoyed Thanksgiving together. Dar Scott submitting; Christian hypocritical anarcho capitalist
Dear DS: I thank you for your suggestion. I was quite wrong not to include this in my anarchist bibliography:
Friedman, David. 1989. The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism, La Salle, IL: Open Court, 2nd ed. http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Libertarian/Machinery_of_Freedom/MofF_Chapter_41.html
It is now included, and will stay included. I stand corrected by you in this matter.
“Rothbard’s hate led him to intellectual dishonesty.” I think that is despicable. Murray didn’t have a dishonest bone in his body. He wrote not one single solitary “dishonest” word in his entire gargantuan output.
I’m not really a big fan of David Friedman’s for yet another reason.
A few years ago I published this article:
Block, Walter E. 2011. “David Friedman and Libertarianism: A Critique,” Libertarian Papers, Vol. 3, Article 35; http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2011/lp-3-35.pdf; https://plus.google.com/u/0/107839603122535455846/posts/6QfUcBR1gTS
I sent it to him soon after it was published. I invited him to write a rejoinder to it, promising I would reply, and that we could in that way have a debate on these matters in the scholarly literature. He never responded to this invitation of mine. He doesn’t hate the state to the right level? I don’t think he hates the state to any level at all. I don’t think he thinks the government is unjust. I don’t think the concept of “justice” is in his lexicon at all. But, I’d better not go on, here, with my criticism of him on this matter. If you want to see more, read my critique of his book (well, of chapter 41 of it), mentioned above.
12:18 pm on December 4, 2016
