# The Free Market Existentialist: Capitalism without Consumerism **URL:** **By** William Irwin, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus **Published:** August 12, 2016 --- William Irwin joins us to talk about existentialism and libertarianism. What is free market existentialism? Why have adherents of existentialism so often chosen Marxism as their political philosophy? William Irwin joins us this week to discuss his book, [_The Free Market Existentialist: Capitalism without Consumerism_](https://www.amazon.com/Free-Market-Existentialist-Capitalism-Consumerism/dp/1119121280) (2015)_._ What purpose or meaning can we give life, if we start from a place where we take as a given that there is no inherent or divine purpose to life? Why should libertarians also be existentialists? **Show Notes and Further Reading** William Irwin's book, [_The Free Market Existentialist: Capitalism without Consumerism_](https://www.amazon.com/Free-Market-Existentialist-Capitalism-Consumerism/dp/1119121280) (2015) challenges assumptions about morality, natural rights and the role of government using insights from thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Robert Nozick, and F. A. Hayek.