Professional paper

Missile: A Libertarian Analysis of Positive Obligations

Walter E. Block orcid.org/0000-0003-2215-4791 ; Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics Loyola University New Orleans *

* Corresponding author.

Abstract

A picks up B, bodily, and tosses him, like a human missile, into C. A is the strongest of the three, B, intermediate, and C, physically weakest. When a strong person, in our little scenario, impacts a weaker one, the latter suffers grievous bodily harm, the stronger is impervious to any injury. A is clearly the criminal here. B is innocent of any crime. True, it is B’s body, not A’s that directly impacts and injures C, but A indirectly did so, and is, as a result, the only culprit herein. Is B legally obligated to slow down and thus weaken his impact with C? Of course he is. No one could deny this. If B is able to do so, but purposefully refuses to engage in such an action, then, he becomes, along with A, a criminal. B becomes a lesser criminal than A, to be sure. Why?

Keywords

Libertarianism; utilitarianism; positive obligations; missile analogy

Hrčak ID:

330293

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/330293

Publication date:

1.12.2024.

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