ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Jan Narveson's attempt to justify the libertarian perspective in his seminal volume,The Libertarian Idea.Jan Narveson's defence of libertarianism is in part motivated by Nozick's failure to provide a convincing foundation for the libertarianism he defends in Anarchy, State and Utopia. In the context of Narveson's attempt to defend libertarianism, it is more important to consider the implications of the rule of reason when one attempts to build a foundation for moral and political philosophy. In trying to respond to the foundational issues that Narveson identifies, it may help to note that the moral disagreement he emphasizes is similarly emphasized in moral scepticism. One might ask what most libertarians would do if one could show that the attempt to generate morality from rational self-interest did not produce libertarianism.
