Left Libertarianism and Private Discrimination

Left-libertarianism, like the more familiar right-libertarianism, holds that agents initially fully own themselves. Unlike right-libertarianism, however, it views natural resources as belonging to everyone in some egalitarian manner. Left-libertarianism is thus a form of liberal egalitarianism in that it recognizes both liberty rights and equality rights. In this Article, I shall lay out the reasons why (1) left libertarianism holds that (a) private discrimination is not intrinsically unjust and (b) it is intrinsically unjust for the state to prohibit private discrimination; and (2) that, nonetheless, a plausible version of left libertarianism holds that it is unjust for the state, and many private individuals, to refrain from taking steps to offset the negative effects of systematic private discrimination.

The basic line is not new; it is simply that there is nothing unjust in principle with private discrimination, but there is something unjust about doing nothing to promote equal life prospects.