Ethics of Liberty, Chapter 20: Lifeboat Situations

In this chapter, Rothbard examines some extreme scenarios concocted by opponents of property rights. This opponents believe that the system of property rights breaks down in these situations, so they cannot be held absolute. この章でロスバードが所有権の反対者の極端な脚本に答える。反対者が場合によって所有権が故障すると言って、所有権の絶対性を否定する。
Rothbard first objects that testing the ethical system in this way is invalid: the ethic is intended for use in normal situations, not abnormal situations. ロスバードの初の抗議は、こんな脚本で倫理を試験するのが無効だ。倫理は異常の状況ではなく通常の状況に使用するものだ。
He then proceeds to show how property rights can resolve those situations best, anyway. If only a limited number of people can be saved, then whoever rightfully controls – owns – access to safety chooses whom he saves. If access is unowned it can be homesteaded, i.e., it goes to the first to bodily claim it. と言っても、続いてその脚本に所有権を使用してうまく解決する。限定数の命だけ救える状況では安全な場所の所有者が救われる者を選択する。所有者がないと一番乗りが所有者になる。
The outcome is still tragic, but the scenario was constructed such that tragedy was unavoidable. 結果は悲劇的だけど最初から悲劇を避けられない局本だった。
Some people otherwise inclined to support property rights apparently can’t bring themselves to blame a man for violating them to save his own life in a desperate context, so they make these situations an exception, weakening the principle. Rothbard rejects this. Even if it was to save his life, he can be rebuffed in the moment and/or brought to justice after the fact. 普段に所有権を支持する者にはこんな状況を考えて必死で所有権を犯す者を非難できない者がある。こういう者が所有権に例外を立つ。ロスバードが例外を拒否する。自分の命を救うためだとしても、所有者には最中では力で押し返す権利も事後では訴訟する権利もある。
Rothbard is right in my book, for the most part. His first objection is absurd, though. The situation is rare, therefore it’s irrelevant? That’s no consolation to the unfortunate souls who find themselves in them! Furthermore, an ethic should be universal: Applicable to all men, at all times, under all circumstances. We could apply it to our hunter-gatherer ancestors (who may have seen desperation much more frequently than we) as well as we apply it to ourselves. ロスバードの大部分が正解だ、と拙者が思う。初の抗議が不合理だけど。状況が珍しいから不適切だと?そんな状況に合う不運な者達に言えるか!それに、倫理は普遍的のはずでござる。大昔の狩猟採集民にも現在の人々にのように応用できるはず。その時代は必死な状況で溢れていただろう。そして、率直に不可能な状況でも倫理の使用を示すことで価値を持つ。

About Brian Wilton

I'm a libertarian. I prefer reading articles and books to listening to podcasts, although I hear that podcasts are more popular. Call it Picard's Syndrome.
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