# Introduction (Vol. 1 No. 1) **URL:** **Published:** March 1, 1982 --- “We should also be explicit about what we mean by the term “Real Liberalism.” Fundamentally, we are concerned with the dignity, worth and sanctity of the individual.” We have deliberately called our study guide _The Humane Studies Review_ because we believe the phrase, “Humane Studies,” best describes the field of our interest. Our concern is with all those disciplines which deal with human action and with the moral and economic choices people make in their everyday lives. They include not only the traditional social sciences of law, political science, economics and sociology, but also the “sciences humaines”—those more broadly conceived investigations into human nature and history which are normally made by the students of moral philosophy, intellectual and the more traditional forms of history. We believe the libertarian or Real Liberal (throughout this guide, the terms libertarian, Classical and Real Liberal will be used synonymously) approach to the “sciences humaines” can offer profound and original insights into the problems of human conflict and association. Thus, it will be an unashamedly Liberal perspective which will be taken in all our essays. We should also be explicit about what we mean by the term “Real Liberalism.” Fundamentally, we are concerned with the dignity, worth and sanctity of the individual. We hold that all individuals are unique and that their uniqueness and differences are the source from which their various, different values flow. From this difference in values and interest comes, in turn, the need to engage in exchanges, to trade peacefully, and to form voluntary associations to satisfy the human need for companionship, security and culture. We also believe that each individual human being is morally autonomous and should be held fully responsible for his or her actions, if and when they impinge upon the rights of others. Only when human uniqueness and autonomy are respected (by respecting others’ privacy and tolerating their differences) can the individual achieve self-actualisation and develop his or her potential to the full. The means by which the privacy and autonomy of the individual are defined is property. Each person has an imprescriptible right of ownership in his or her own body as well as in all objects into which the individual’s labor has been mixed. The right of property defines an inviolable space around the individual and thus protects him or her from the invasions of others. When property rights are respected the individual can develop as he or she thinks fit. Rights also provide a sound method by which social conflicts can be avoided or, if necessary, resolved. To respect property rights one needs a legal system whose function it is to enforce individual property rights. Traditionally it has been the task of private or common law to do this and to adjudicate the conflicting claims to property which are the inevitable result of well-intentioned human interaction. Central to the Classical Liberal philosophy is the principle of justice. By this we mean that each person should do, towards every other person, all that justice requires him or her to do (i.e., return stolen property, pay restitution for damages to person or property) and that each person should abstain from doing to another, anything that justice forbids him or her to do (i.e., any act of robbery, arson, murder or any other crime against the person or property of another). When individual personal and property rights are respected, the unmolested free exchange of property titles between individuals can take place. The freedom to trade is a fundamental tenet of Real Liberalism and extends to both the domestic and the foreign sphere of human action. It is merely the application of the principle of voluntarism to economic matters. When the interests of the interacting parties are rightly understood, there is complete harmony of interests. On an international plane, this harmony of interests results in peace—the most important policy implication of Classical Liberalism. The result of innumerable voluntary exchanges and interactions is a spontaneous order. Being neither the planned outcome or the desire of any one person or group of people, it is rather the unintended consequence of free people going about their rightful business. If the original property rights are just, then the result of this dynamic and constantly adjusting socioeconomic constellation will be a just social order. By using our reason we can investigate and understand the social universe around us. We can determine when a claim to property is just and when it is not. Reason is the tool we use to arbitrate disputes and resolve the conflicts between human beings. Force is eschewed as a means of solving disputes and is resorted to only as a last resort to defend personal and property rights, when all other means of solving the dispute have failed. To the Classical Liberals, war was essentially a criminal activity which was undertaken by governments in the interest of vested interests and at the tremendous expense of the individual. If war and other forms of violent activity can be reduced to their absolute minimum and the peaceful effects of trade and voluntary association are permitted to be felt, then there are some grounds for optimism. The market is the best means we have for improving the material and spiritual condition of the broad mass of the people. Only if people are allowed to pursue their own interests free of supervision and the forceful intervention of governments, churches or political parties can we achieve the high level of prosperity and progress which the market promises us. These are the basic principles of Real Liberalism and we intend discussing them more fully in both their historical and theoretical forms. Future review essays will discuss the historical development of the ideas which form our intellectual liberal heritage. We will also discuss these ideas in their modern theoretical form in an attempt to flesh out a consistent and comprehensive Real Liberal world view. This brings us to the aims of this study guide. The primary aim of this study guide is to help students learn about the complexities of the liberal world view in the most efficient and pleasurable way possible and, at the same time, to inform them of what is going on in libertarian and traditional scholarly circles. We intend writing and editing bibliographic review essays on topics of interest to students of liberty, which will cover political philosophy, economics, history, the history of ideas (especially the history of Real Liberal thought), law and jurisprudence, moral philosophy, and the humane sciences in general. Many of these bibliographies will be written by libertarian experts who have written on or who are working on these topics. Our intention is to present the most important books and articles, both modern and hard to find classics, with a critical commentary so that the reader can quickly find which book or article to read first, in order to begin his or her reading in that subject area. Most importantly, we also hope to show how a particular author approaches his subject and how his ideological perspective can distort or lead to misunderstandings. By critically assessing each author’s contribution, it is hoped that a truly liberal perspective will emerge. A second aim of this newsletter is to help libertarians regain their intellectual heritage. From what one learns in political science and history classes it would be easy to reach the conclusion that no credible alternative to statism, in its various guises, has ever been developed. This is a completely erroneous conclusion to draw and we hope to demonstrate by means of our bibliographical review essays on the history of liberal ideas that libertarians can proudly claim a long and distinguished tradition which stretches back at least as far as the 16th century—if not right back to the Roman Republic. It is important to realize that the ideological struggle between State Power and Liberty is probably as old as human society itself, and that we can learn much from studying the efforts of others to understand and oppose the intruding and disruptive activities of the state and other organized coercive groups. The study of our libertarian heritage is instructive for its philosophical and historical insights into the nature of individual rights and the power of the state. On a more personal level, it is often profoundly moving and inspiring to read of partially successful attempts to remove the shackles of state power, or of the courageous—though often futile—opposition of particular individuals to the grossest excesses of state power throughout the centuries. However, given the direction of world history since the late 19th century, the occasions for optimism and inspiration have considerably diminished; this can only strengthen our de-termination to understand the past. For it is only by understanding the past that we can begin to understand the present, and thereby take steps to change our present condition. The third aim of this newsletter is to help students arm themselves with the intellectual tools necessary to oppose the idea of the State in the often unfriendly environment of a university or college. Many libertarians find themselves isolated on campus far from centers of libertarian activity. They are faced with the choice of hiding their political views under a bushel or making their views known, thereby having to answer the criticism of faculty and other students who share the dominant political faith. If the former choice is made, the cause of liberty is not advanced and others cannot learn of the libertarian alternative. If the latter course is our choice, we must be sure we understand the paradigm of liberty and can ably defend it in the face of opposition. It is hoped that this newsletter will assist those who choose the difficult, but ultimately rewarding task of offering others a well-thought-out, radically different view of the social universe. To do this requires knowledge and the confidence which knowledge brings. By suggesting important books to read, by reviewing articles and books around a particular theme and, perhaps most importantly, by attempting to show how various and varied ideas interconnect and relate to a unified libertarian world-view, we will be able to assist this process of learning in some way. Of course, given the limitations of space, we cannot hope to include every book and article on any given topic. All we are trying to do is to provide a starting point for your own further reading and research (perhaps for a term paper or honor’s thesis). We hope you will find this newsletter a useful tool, something which may lead you to something new and which will save you valuable time in searching for material. Above all, we hope you will be stimulated to learn more about our great libertarian heritage and the exciting and rapidly growing body of thought which goes by the collective name of Libertarianism.