Friday, July 20, 2012

Is Daniel Fincke a Rothbardian?

I just ran across the following Rothbard quote at BHL:

The natural law ethic decrees that for all living things, “goodness” is the fulfillment of what is best for that type of creature; “goodness” is therefore relative to the nature of the creature concerned…In the case of man, the natural-law ethic states that goodness or badness can be determined by what fulfills or thwarts what is best for man’s nature.

Couldn't help but notice how similar that sounds to something Daniel Fincke wrote:

The more a thing does the characteristic things of its kind, the more it becomes in actuality, and not just potentially, a thing of that kind. The more excellently you do those characteristic things which are fit for your kind of being, the more closely, ideally, and powerfully you embody its formal ideal. And, in some significant sense, this makes you more that sort of thing.

Seems like today at least there's nothing new under the sun.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Daniel Fincke said...

It's just classic Aristotelianism. That is one very basic idea that philosophers have talked about for centuries.

That does not mean I accept very much of the rest of "natural law ethics" or anything specifically Rothbardian.

12:06 PM  

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