# Rothbard's Ethics of Liberty, Part 1 **URL:** **By** Jason Kuznicki, Grant Babcock, Aaron Ross Powell **Published:** October 16, 2015 --- Jason Kuznicki, Grant Babcock, and Aaron Powell discuss the first part of Murray Rothbard's book _The Ethics of Liberty_. Murray Rothbard wrote _The Ethics of Liberty_ in 1982 as a full moral theory of the ethical considerations libertarianism requires and what these considerations would prevent the state from doing. This week we're analyzing the philosophical framework he lays out in the first part of _Ethics_. We talk about the difference between natural law and positive law, the is-ought problem, Rothbard's views on utilitarianism, and what Rothbard thought the task of political philosophy was. What is the purpose of humanity? What is essential to human nature? [This discussion is continued in this followup Free Thoughts episode on part two of _The Ethics of Liberty_](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/rothbards-ethics-of-liberty-part-2) . **Show Notes and Further Reading** Murray Rothbard's [_The Ethics of Liberty_](http://www.amazon.com/The-Ethics-Liberty-Murray-Rothbard/dp/0814775594) (1982).