# The Synthesis of Rights and Consequences

**URL:** <https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/the-synthesis-of-rights-and-consequences>

**By** Tom G. Palmer, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus

**Published:** February 10, 2014

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We discuss the two most common philosophical justifications for libertarianism: consequentialism and rights-based theories.

Tom Palmer joins Aaron and Trevor for a discussion on the two most common philosophical justifications for libertarianism.

Typically we think of justifications for libertarianism as falling into one of two kinds of categories: consequentialism and rights-based. Are these two justifications necessarily at odds with each other?

Tom G. Palmer is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, director of the Institute’s educational division, Cato University, Vice President for International Programs at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, and General Director of the Atlas Global Initiative for Free Trade, Peace, and Prosperity.

**Show Notes and Further Reading:**

[Immanuel Kant, _Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals_](http://amzn.to/LXmzCK)  
[Aristotle, _Nicomachean Ethics_](http://amzn.to/1gbkcp3)  
[David Hume, _A Treatise of Human Nature_](http://amzn.to/1cbvYwE)  
[John Locke, _Two Treatises of Government_](http://amzn.to/1gbkgFq)  
[Jeremy Bentham, _A Fragment on Government_](http://amzn.to/1l7t6Hr)  
[Randy Barnett, _The Structure of Liberty_](http://amzn.to/1iy8xTt)  
[Murray Rothbard, _The Ethics of Liberty_](http://amzn.to/1eFw5oA)  
[Stephen Pinker, _The Better Angels of Our Nature_](http://amzn.to/1fEZopu)  
[Jean-Jacques Rousseau, _On the Social Contract_](http://amzn.to/1iCIOc2)  
[Thomas Hobbes, _Leviathan_](http://amzn.to/1d36eXC)  
[Richard Epstein, _Simple Rules for a Complex World_](http://amzn.to/LXmW0j)  
[_Simple Rules _Libertarianism.org lecture video](http://bit.ly/1jkDMo0)  
[Bertrand de Jouvenel, _The Ethics of Redistribution_](http://amzn.to/My9vDV)  
[George Orwell, _Animal Farm_](http://amzn.to/1aEaf5A)