4 ms·

The non-aggression principle means that you shouldn't start the aggression, it doesn't mean that you can't defend yourself.

• dllthomas 7y ago
  Which sounds uncontroversial, but there are devils in detailing what constitutes aggression.
  • lazyasciiart 7y ago
    I remember a libertarian telling me once that they believed it was unethical to start a war in order to free slaves, because violence is only ok in self defence and the slaves could rise up on their own.
    • buboard 7y ago
      That's not in line with the NAP. Slaves are by definition the subjects of aggression since they have been stripped of their natural self-ownership right. So it is definitely not unethical to help them.
      • dllthomas 7y ago
        To my mind, "not in line with" implies that it'd motivate violation of the principle. It seems like it's rather a stricter (... which doesn't necessarily mean better or worse) standard than the NAP (or at least the most common interpretations of it).