Do Libertarian self-ownership and Liberal equality contradict?
On the face of it asserting the right to the ownership of that which comes from one’s body and abilities and asserting the right of others to have the necessities of life are not compatible. How can those who lack the ability to provide the necessities of life for themselves have the necessities of life without infringing the rights of others through redistributive taxation or appropriation? This contradiction occurs because fundamental ideas about private property and appropriation of natural resources go unquestioned. Leftlibertarianism challenges traditional notions about the initial acquisition of private property to allow for the values of both self-ownership and equality to be consistent with one another. How can something calling itself ‘libertarian’ justify the re-distribution of wealth?An early modern philosopher named John Locke (1632-1704) gave an account of how people can legitimately acquire full private ownership over land and natural resources. He stated that private app
