Libertarianism in India, With A Little Help From the Mises Institute! Are There Animal Rights? No.

Letter 1

<<My responses in brackets>>

From: Ytengra

Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2019 11:30 AM

To: [email protected]

Subject: Animal Rights

Hello Dr. Block,

I’m Yohan from India, fellow Anarchist / Libertarian. I got a lot of clarity on the subject of Animal rights after watching your debate. I just wanted to ask you one specific question, which is a problem I’ve run into while debating vegans:

If a person was torturing an animal needlessly in his own property, and a bunch of people felt justified to intervene and use force against him, would that be wrong?

<<< No, it would be morally right for them to stop him. But, it would violate the NAP of libertarianism, and therefore constitute a crime.>>>

Also after they’ve gone and successfully stopped the torture from being committed, would you want to see those same people imprisoned for having violating the property rights of the animal abuser?

<<< Yes. Not only have they trespassed and thus violated the property rights of the torturer, they have also committed assault and battery on him. If they don’t want to commit a crime, they should limit their opposition to his heinous action by boycotting him.>>>

If the imprisonment was done by a third group of people, would you support them / oppose them / be neutral about it?

<<< Support. These people, although they acted morally in using force against the torturer, violated the libertarian NAP law.>>>

Thanks for all the work you’ve done.

Best

I’ve written a bit about this:

Montgomery, Stephen and Walter E. Block. 2016. “Animal torture and thick libertarianism.” Review of Social and Economic Issues (RSEI), Vol 1, No. 3, Spring, pp. 105-116. http://rsei.rau.ro/images/V1N3/Articol_5.pdfhttp://www.rebe.rau.ro/RePEc/rau/rseijr/SP16/RSEI-SP16-A5.pdf

Block, Walter E. and Steven Craig. 2017. “Animal torture.”  The Review of Social and Economic Issues (RSEI); http://rsei.rau.ro/index.php/lasthttp://rsei.rau.ro/index.php/10-published-issues/10-volume-1-number-4

Block, Walter E. https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/two-challenges-to-libertarianism/

Block, Walter E. 2019. Unpublished. “On Huemer on Ethical Veganism.”

Letter 2

From: Ytengra

Sent: Monday, January 20, 2020 3:33 AM

To: Walter Block <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: Animal Rights

Hey Dr. Block,

Thank you so much for having our conversation posted on Lew rockwell. I’m sure it will help many.

I recently met Dr, Madhusudan Raj in India and did an interview with him. He was telling me about his experiences at Mises University and how you are his mentor, which I very happy to hear about as I look up to you in high regard.

We recorded this interview analyzing India from a Libertarian lens, he mentions you in it as well https://youtu.be/7iojtD6bQhs

. We will be doing future work together too to spread the ideas of Liberty and freedom in India. Thanks for all you do.

Best,

Yohan

From: Walter Block <[email protected]>

Sent: Monday, January 20, 2020 12:07 PM

To: ‘Ytengra’

Subject: RE: Animal Rights

Letter 3

Dear Yohan:

Thanks for your kind words. I’m delighted that the two of you are promoting liberty in India. I understand that animal rights (for cows) is an important issue in your country.

Best regards,

Walter

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2:29 pm on April 22, 2020