# The Ethics of Dynamite **URL:** **By** Jason Kuznicki, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus **Published:** February 3, 2014 --- Jason Kuznicki joins us for a meeting of Cato's informal book club, where we discuss Auberon Herbert's essay "The Ethics of Dynamite." This week we're discussing a relatively unknown essay by Auberon Herbert called "The Ethics of Dynamite," wherein Herbert compares the coercive political force of the state (the majority) to the coercive, terroristic use of force by the dynamiter (the minority), a 19-century reference to violent anarchist sects. Herbert points out that the means of the state and those of the dynamiter really do not differ all that much, and offers his solutions for "unmaking" the coercive nature of each. Jason Kuznicki is a research fellow at the Cato Institute and editor of Cato Unbound. **Show Notes and Further Reading:** - [Adam Smith, _The Wealth of Nations_](http://www.amazon.com/The-Wealth-Nations-Bantam-Classics/dp/0553585975) - [Thomas Hobbes, _Leviathan_](http://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Thomas-Hobbes/dp/1619491702/) - [Herbert Spencer, _Social Statics_](http://www.amazon.com/conditions-essential-happiness-specified-developed/dp/1179888219/) - [Murray Rothbard,](http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-State-Murray-Rothbard/dp/130068240X/) [_The Anatomy of the State_](http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-State-Murray-Rothbard/dp/130068240X/) - [Specialization and Trade (video)](https://www.libertarianism.org/videos/specialization-trade-because-we-cant-be-good-everything)