Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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REVIEWS AND COMMENTS BY MURRAY N. ROTHBARD 57 role indeed. It is “the broadest possible application of sterilization” to prevent “the pollution of the racial stream.” 10 In other words, rugged individualism really turns out to be rugged collectivism. It is difficult to take this monstrous proposal seriously if not for the fact that other people advance it seriously. The example of a successful large-scale carrying out of this principle has been that of one A. Hitler. Do Hitler’s experiments seem to be an inhuman, perverse process of extermination? Oh no, the rugged philosopher would say; he simply cleansed the “racial stream.” Of course, Dr. Cutten’s “scientific” program of “cleansing” would, I hope, be based on slightly different standards than Hitler’s. But what standards? And who is to decide them? Who is going to sterilize whom? Let the State get hold of this mighty instrument and we are going to see the greatest “cleansing” process in history: Negroes, Jews, Asiatics, Catholics, Germans, Russians, Communists, capitalists, Republicans, redheads, people under six feet in height, all people with freckles, non-unionists, etc. Yes, I think that sterilization applied on “the broadest possible” basis can perform a process of “cleansing” that will make the old-fangled glaciers, floods, plagues, and the new-fangled atom bombs and germ warfare look like kindergarten games. Dr. Cutten may well remonstrate that his sterilizing will be directed by a group of “impartial” expert eugenists. Quis custodes custodiet? 11 (Aristotle’s great comment on Plato’s fascist-eugenist state run by wise, expert guardians: Who will guard the guardians?) Even if this sterilization were studiously restricted to drunkards, etc., the entire theory is based on the unfounded assumption that the children of the “unfit” are also “unfit”—and similarly for the “fit.” Heredity is not that simple. How many sons of mighty kings have turned out to be morons? How many sons of great self-made industrialists 10Cutten, “Rugged Individualism,” p. 70. 11This is a shortened version of Juvenal, Satires VI, line 347: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
MURRAY N. ROTHBARD VS. THE PHILOSPHERS: UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS 58 ON HAYEK, MISES, STRAUSS, AND POLYANI have turned out to be weaklings? And how many Americans have risen from the ranks of the poor and ignorant? Let us never forget that Beethoven was the son of a confirmed drunkard, a man “unfit” by any eugenic standard. If Dr. Cutten or other “rugged” would-be murderers had been permitted to do their work in that era, the world would have lost a Beethoven. How many unborn geniuses would similarly be slaughtered by the “scientific” rugged eugenists? When it comes to sterilization, Mr. Rugged Individualist, “kindly include me out.” I’m sure my sentiments will be heartily echoed by all the rest of the nonrugged or antirugged individualists. If, Mr. R.I., you grieve because you cannot impart your gift to the world, remember that “charity begins at home.” 5. The Fallacy of the “Improvement of the Race” A fallacy committed by many groups of political philosophers is that somehow an individual living in the present is of far less importance and value than some hypothetical person living in the future. People of the present are supposed to have a sacred duty to sacrifice themselves on the altar of the “future,” for the benefit of some man of the future. Thus, the Marxists justify their unconscionable slaughter as the inevitable birth pangs of a better and happier world of the future. Aside from the fact that the Marxian-Stalinist future would not be a happy one, I strenuously object to a doctrine that holds a person of the present expendable for the benefit of the future. The Rugged Individualist, however, justifies slaughter of the present because future individuals are supposedly benefited. “Was nature unkind to the negro when she quietly got rid of the malaria-susceptible members of the race and developed race immunity?” 12 This is merely one example. 12 Cutten, “Rugged Individualism,” p. 70.
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© 2009 by the Ludwig von Mises Ins
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ROTHBARD’S UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS I
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CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF
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REFERENCES 1 Buckley, William F. Go
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 151 BIB
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 153 Dav
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“Absolutes, Relativism, and the S
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INDEX 161 environment, 123-24 Essay
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INDEX 163 Jesuits, 24 judges, 69 ju
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INDEX 165 Oriental Despotism (Wittf
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INDEX 167 Socrates, 26n42 solidarit
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Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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