"A crucial feature of libertarian political theorizing is the insistence that not just the precise nature, but the very existence, of political authority requires justification and cannot simply be assumed."- Roderick T. Long, in a draft essay entitled “Why Libertarians Believe There Is Only One Right”.
"Not if one is a critical-rationalist libertarian."- J.C. Lester's reply, published online in the Libertarian Alliance's journal "Philosophical Notes" earlier this year. It neatly encapsulates the Popperian "school" of libertarian thought. More explanation here.
The point is to focus a critique of political authority not upon a weakness or lack of justification (e.g. contrary to the democracy activists), but upon the suggestion that alternative arrangements would be less bad in both a prioristic (rights) and a posteriori (consequences) terms and that with a rejection of justifications, there is no need to choose between a prioristic (e.g. Roderick Long) and a posteriori (e.g. David Friedman) versions of libertarianism.
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