May 4, 2014
Part three in a series on developing your own independent moral compass. Here is a summary of the ideas covered:
- Moral behaviour evolved as an evolutionary adaptation to gain the advantages of the division of labour that come from peaceful cooperation.
- The act of peaceful communication logically contains and implies the criteria for moral rules.
- There are four rules for avoiding conflict over scarce resources that are valid according to the criteria of universality, logical coherence and non-contradiction by behaviour.
- The rules are inherent in the nature of peaceful communication and can't be argued against without self-contradiction.
- Rule 1: Each individual has exclusive control of his or her own physical body.
- Rule 2: The exclusive control of a previously unowned scarce resource belongs to the first person to "homestead" the resource.
- Rule 3: The exclusive control of a newly produced scarce object belongs to the person to created the object (as long as they owned the component resources that they made it from).
- Rule 4: Justly acquired control over scarce resources can be given away or traded by voluntary agreement.
- These four rules together comprise the non-aggression principle.
Protecting yourself from straightforward aggression is a practical matter. Protecting yourself from aggression that is disguised with bogus moral justifications is more complex: you need your own moral compass to avoid confusion. The purpose of this series has been to outline the principles necessary to reconstruct valid moral rules for yourself, so that you are not duped by bogus moral justifications.
Show Notes:
- The Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Photo Credit: chrisotruro via Compfight cc
