Category: Philosophy

My last few posts have all been dedicated to an argument that redistribution is a misnomer: there is no such thing as redistribution, just different distributions. In making that argument, I have insisted that we adopt a blank slate vantage point when talking about distribution. I think doing so makes discussions clearer because it does… Continue reading One last, short note on redistribution — I promise

Adam Ozimek of Forbes’ Modeled Behavior wrote a response to a recent post of mine. In my post — which had a follow up post — I argue that the concept of redistribution is a misguided one. There is no such thing as redistribution, just different distributions: So there is no baseline default distribution against… Continue reading A response to Adam Ozimek of Modeled Behavior

I have received some pushback on my last post, and so I thought I might clarify my main point. The bulk of the pushback has been, not surprisingly, from libertarian-leaning folks who believe it is quite clear that when you take private property from one person and then give it to another, that constitutes redistribution.… Continue reading The correct vantage point of distributional debates

As I mentioned in the previous post, the basic problem with procedural accounts of property rights is first ownership. There is simply no way to get around the fact that when the first owner asserts himself, every other person in the world is dealt a blow. They can no longer access a piece of a… Continue reading Robert Nozick, paternalist hater of liberty

I know more about liberal theories of property rights than I do any other philosophical subject. I am not sure why, but I was fascinated by procedural accounts of the origination of property rights for a multi-year long span of time, during which I read just about every canonical text in the debate. Much to… Continue reading Failed philosophies of property rights