ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the contours of libertarian (also sometimes called classical liberal) thinking on justice, institutions, interpersonal ethics, government, and political economy. Libertarians bill their theory as an alternative to the traditional Left and Right. Libertarians also typically believe that, in general if not always, granting everyone a wide scope of personal and economic liberty has good consequences, while restrictions on liberty have bad consequences. Libertarians argue that free societies, compared to relatively less-free societies, tend to produce more wealth, happiness, prosperity, peace, good character, scientific knowledge, culture and the arts, and generalized trust. Libertarians advocate a free and open society of cooperation, tolerance, and mutual respect. Deontological arguments for libertarianism try to establish that libertarian institutions are intrinsically just, while consequentialist arguments try to establish that such institutions are useful for generating good outcomes.
