Escape from Leviathan: Liberty, Welfare and Anarchy Reconciled (Electronic book text)

The most plausible accounts of economic rationality, interpersonal liberty, human welfare and private-property anarchy do not conflict. Using philosophy and social science, Escape from Leviathan defends this bold, non-normative, thesis from contrary positions in the academic literature. Writers considered include David Friedman, John Gray, R. M. Hare, Robert Nozick, Karl Popper, John Rawls, Murray Rothbard, Alan Ryan, Amartya Sen and Bernard Williams.
The rationality assumptions of neoclassical and Austrian School economics are reconciled and related to liberty and welfare. A new theory of liberty as 'absence of imposed cost' is argued to be libertarian. Welfare is defended as the satisfaction of unimposed wants. Practical anarchy is simply unconstrained private property. Related topics include free will, weakness of will, the nature of moralising, intellectual property, restitution and retribution. Critical-rationalist epistemology (theories can only be tested, not justified) is applied throughout. This is a ground-breaking work while remaining an excellent introduction to libertarianism and social thought.