Wiktionary

libertarian

See also: Libertarian, and libertarían

English

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WOTD – 8 August 2024

Etymology

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The noun is derived from liber(ty) ‎ -arian (suffix denoting an advocate of or believer in something). The adjective is derived from the noun.[1]

sense development

The word was first attested in English in 1789 in William Belsham’s Essays: see the quotation. This was contrasted with necessitarian, in the context of free will, and was not used in the more frequently encountered modern sense.

Compare French libertaire (“person with extreme left-wing beliefs, anarchist”), from liberté (“freedom”) -aire (suffix forming nouns). Libertaire is derived from Latin libertas. The French word was first attested in a May 1857 letter by the French anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque (1821–1865) to the anarchist philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865), reading:[2] “Anarchiste juste-milieu, libéral et non LIBERTAIRE [A centrist anarchist, liberal and not LIBERTARIAN] […]”. It was popularized as a euphemism for anarchiste in the 1890s, following the French lois scélérates (literally “villainous laws”) under which anarchist publications were banned.

Sense 3.2 (“believer in right-libertarianism”) developed in the United States in the 1940s and was popularized in the 1950s. In the 1940s, Leonard Read (1898–1983), the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, a free-market think tank, began calling himself “libertarian” in contrast with a “classical liberal”.[3] In 1955, Dean Russell also promoted the use of the word, writing: “Let those of us who love liberty trade-mark and reserve for our own use the good and honorable word ‘libertarian’.”[4]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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libertarian (plural libertarians)

  1. One who advocates liberty, either generally or in relation to a specific issue.
    Synonym: eleutheromaniac
    Antonyms: antilibertarian, nonlibertarian
    Hyponym: anarchist
    civil libertarian ― one who favours civil liberties
    cultural libertarian ― one who favours cultural freedom
  2. (philosophy) A believer in the freedom of thinking beings to choose their own destiny (the doctrine of free will) as opposed to those who believe the future is predetermined (the doctrine of necessity). [from late 18th c.]
    Antonym: necessitarian
    • 1789, [William Belsham], “Essay I. On Liberty and Necessity.”, in Essays, Philosophical, Historical, and Literary, London: […] C[harles] Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 11:
      [W]here is the difference betvveen the Libertarian, vvho ſays that the mind chuſes the motive; and the Neceſſarian, vvho aſſerts that the motive determines the mind; if the volition be the neceſſary reſult of all the previous circumſtances?
  3. (politics) One who advocates libertarianism (“a political philosophy maintaining that all persons are the absolute owners of their own lives, and should be free to do whatever they wish with their persons or property, provided they allow others that same liberty”); also, a member of a political party supporting libertarianism.
    Antonyms: antilibertarian, nonlibertarian
    1. (chiefly Ireland, UK) An antiauthoritarian believer in left-libertarianism, a political doctrine that stresses both individual freedom and social equality, and advocates shared ownership of natural resources.
      • 1973, Eugene Lunn, “The Romantic as Socialist”, in Prophet of Community: The Romantic Socialism of Gustav Landauer, Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.; London: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 200:
        [Gustav] Landauer's reorientation of anarchist theory and practice in the direction of idealist and völkisch thought was often incomprehensible to the more traditional libertarians, and in the period of the second Sozialist Landauer no longer felt entirely comfortable with the simple "anarchist" label. For Landauer anarchism and socialism had always been different expressions of the same view; now he regarded anarchism as "merely the negative side of what is positively called socialism."
      • 2012, Jennifer D. Carlson, “Libertarianism”, in edited by Wilbur R. Miller, The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, →ISBN, page 1008, column 1:
        While anarchism and socialist libertarians have a rich history of revolutionary thinkers ranging from Emma Goldman to George Orwell, the best-known socialist libertarian thinker of today is probably Noam Chomsky.
    2. (chiefly US) A believer in right-libertarianism, a political doctrine that emphasizes individual liberty and a lack of governmental intervention, oversight, and regulation, both in economic matters (that is, a belief in the free market) and in personal behaviour provided that no one's rights are threatened or violated.

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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libertarian (comparative more libertarian, superlative most libertarian)

  1. Advocating liberty; also, having a relative tendency towards liberty.
    Antonyms: antilibertarian, nonlibertarian
    He has libertarian views.
    • 2012 January, Steven Sloman, “The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation [review of Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) by Daniel Kahneman]”, in American Scientist‎[3], volume 100, number 1, New Haven, Conn.: Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-06-12, page 74:
      Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that "nudges" our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.
  2. (philosophy) Relating to the doctrine of free will as opposed to the doctrine of necessity.
    Antonym: necessitarian
  3. (originally US, politics) Relating to, or advocating, libertarianism; also, relating to a political party supporting libertarianism.
    Antonyms: antilibertarian, nonlibertarian
    a libertarian capitalist
    • 1991, Peter H[ugh] Marshall, “The Relevance of Anarchism”, in Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism, London: Harper Perennial, published 2008, →ISBN, part 7 (The Legacy of Anarchism), page 641:
      For a long time, libertarian was interchangeable in France with anarchist but in recent years, its meaning has become more ambivalent. Some anarchists like David Guérin will call themselves ‘libertarian socialists’, partly to avoid the negative overtones still associated with anarchism, and partly to stress the place of anarchism with the socialist tradition. Even Marxists of the New Left like E[dward] P[almer] Thompson call themselves ‘libertarian’ to distinguish themselves from those authoritarian socialists and communists who believe in revolutionary dictatorship and vanguard parties.
    • 2016 January 13, Ben Jacobs, “Ron Paul criticizes Cruz's absence from Fed vote in support of son's campaign”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[4], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-27:
      Rand Paul's presidential campaign has drafted in his father, libertarian icon Ron Paul, to directly attack Republican rival Ted Cruz in a robocall in Iowa, the first time the former presidential candidate has gone on the offensive on his son’s behalf.
    • 2017, Angela Nagle, “The Leaderless Digital Counter-revolution”, in Kill All Normies: The Online Culture Wars from Tumblr and 4chan to the Alt-right and Trump, Alresford, Hampshire: Zero Books, John Hunt Publishing, →ISBN, page 13:
      Anonymous activities have over the years leaned incoherently to the libertarian left and right, and everything in between, singling out everyone from Justin Bieber fans to feminists, fascists, cybersecurity specialists, and engaged in the kind of pervert-exposing vigilantism that blue-collar tabloid readers have long been mocked for.

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “libertarian, n. and adj.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “libertarian, n. and adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ Joseph Déjacque (1857 May) “De l’être-humain mâle et femelle: Lettre à P. J. Proudhon”, in Joseph.dejacque.free.fr‎[1], published 2016, archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
  3. ^ David Boaz (1997) “The Coming Libertarian Age”, in Libertarianism: A Primer, New York, N.Y.: Free Press, →ISBN, page 25.
  4. ^ Dean Russell (1955 May) “Who is a Libertarian?”, in Foundation for Economic Education‎[2], archived from the original on 2024-05-06.

Further reading

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