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L.A. Rollins is an aphorist, or rather, an againstist. He is of the fraternity of those who deny both sides of every question, the refusniks who are always untimely. . . . For him, there isn’t a department of human experience that won’t sell you a bill of goods.
– Bob Black, Beneath the Underground
No, it won’t stop bullets. It won’t keep people from ripping off your property. It won’t even stop the government from putting you in a concentration camp, or executing you. About the only thing a “natural right” will stop is enlightened thinking on the ethics of liberty. Once you’ve read The Myth of Natural Rights and Other Essays, you’ll be able to put those imaginary protectors of freedom back in the museums where they belong.
Libertarian scholars have had a difficult time being taken seriously in intellectual circles. There’s a good reason for this. While they have gained recognition and acclaim for their staunch defense of the free market, compelling advocacy of civil liberties and devastating condemnation of interventionism, their stubborn reliance on the ancient myth of natural rights leaves them in philosophical disrepute. The doctrine of natural rights has persisted among libertarians, because there has never been a systematic and thorough critique of all it implies. Until now.
In one compact work, L.A. Rollins shatters the myth of natural rights, while exposing the “bleeding-heart libertarians” that promote it. With careful research and ample documentation, he shows that thinkers like Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, Tibor Machan and Samuel Konkin not only violate reason and logic in their defense of natural rights, but also violate the standards they set for themselves.
Back in print for the first time in years, this newly revised edition features an insightful introduction by the Stirnerite-libertarian upstart,TGGP, along with a new afterword by the author. Bonus material includes an updated selection of splenetic jeu de mots from the underground classic, Lucifer’s Lexicon, as well as Rollins’ never-before-published writings on poetic insurrection, the Holy Qur’an and Holocaust revisionism.
Caveat lector!
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Praise for The Myth of Natural Rights (Loompanics edition, 1983)
Rollins has made hash of the logical connections in Rothbard’s argument.
– Robert Anton Wilson, Natural Law
An important book, which every reader interested in libertarian theory should acquire.
– Jeff Riggenbach, author of In Praise of Decadence
Rollins does a fabulous job of making fools out of many a libertarian’s
philosophical heroes.– Justin Weinberg, Guillotine
An argument could be made that a book like this is potentially pretty damn
dangerous.– Pat Hartman, Salon: A Journal of Aesthetics
Lou Rollins' brief work is packed with enough analytical insight to send proponents of natural law theory into hiding.
– Jorge Amador, The Pragmatist
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You can place an advance order through Amazon here. I'll be taking PayPal orders as soon as the Nine-Banded Books site redesign is ready for prime time, which shouldn't take much longer. To reserve an autographed copy, contact me.
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