Causation and Aggression

by N. Stephan Kinsella and Patrick Tinsley

N. Stephan Kinsella and Patrick Tinsley. Causation and Aggression. The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 7.4 (winter 2004): 97-112.

This is a theory of causation that attempts to explain why remote actors can be liable under libertarian theory.

Quotes: For libertarians, the purpose of a legal system is to establish and enforce rules that facilitate and support peaceful, conflict-free interaction between individuals. In short, the law should prohibit aggression. Because aggression is a particular kind of human action—action that inten- tionally violates or threatens to violate the physical integrity of another person or another person’s property without that person’s consent—it can be suc- cessfully prohibited only if the law is based on a sound understanding of the nature of human action more generally.