From: Douglas Carkuff
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2020 3:25 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: This question

Hello Dr. Block, Big admirer and long time libertarian. Here is a question (among several) that is bothering me. Often libertarians argue (myself also) that when humans are left to their own devices, spontaneous order will develop, and certainly that is true, but isn’t that exactly what the story of human kind is? And yes, spontaneous order has developed and that order includes all the various forms of coercion and injustice and corruption – essentially the aggression we libertarians like to talk about? Is there any set of starting conditions that would not ultimately lead to, essentially, what we have today.

Even if the formalized systems of government we have today could somehow be avoided (and how could they ever be? – every coordinated human effort leads to formalization) wouldn’t equivalent de facto governments develop which are just as oppressive and does the notion of a de facto government (as opposed to formalized) even make any sense?

I tend to think of myself as an anarchist, but isn’t the best we could hope for what was attempted with the formation of the US?

Thanks for your time, Doug Carkuff

From: Walter Block <[email protected]>

Sent: Friday, February 28, 2020 12:20 AM

To: Douglas Carkuff <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: This question

Dear Doug:

I have written on this a little bit. This is not exactly on point, but it’s close.

Levendis, John, Walter E. Block and Robert B. Eckhardt.  2019. “Evolutionary psychology, economic freedom, trade and benevolence.” Review of Economic Perspectives – Národohospodářský obzor; Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 73-92; https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/revecp/19/2/article-p73.xml; 10.2478/revecp-2019-0005; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/revecp-2019-0005; https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/here-is-one-of-my-best-scholarly-papers-ever/; https://pennstate.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/evolutionary-psychology-economic-freedom-trade-and-benevolence

Best regards,

Walter

The Best of Walter E. Block