LIBERTARIAN PAPERS VOL. 1, ART. NO. 24 (2009) CAUSATION AND RESPONSIBILITY: A NEW DIRECTION MATT MORTELLARO* IN THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, a great deal of ink has been spilled on the issue of the proper view of causation (in its association with criminality),1 specifically as a reaction to the traditional Rothbardian position2 and the implications of this position, as presented by Walter Block.3 The critiques made by such libertarian luminaries as Hans Hoppe, Frank van Dun, Stephan Kinsella, and Patrick Tinsley have been in the direction of favoring an expansion of the Rothbardian framework to include actions outside the overt invasion of physical property, and thereby expanding the class of activities *Matt Mortellaro can be reached at
[email protected]. CITE THIS ARTICLE AS: Matt Mortellaro, “Causation and Responsibility: A New Direction,” Libertarian Papers 1, 24 (2009). ONLINE AT: libertarianpapers.org. THIS ARTICLE IS subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (creativecommons.org/licenses). 1 See Frank van Dun, “Against Libertarian Legalism: A Comment on Kinsella and Block,” Journal of Libertarian Studies 17, no. 3 (Summer 2003); van Dun, “Natural Law and the Jurisprudence of Freedom,” Journal of Libertarian Studies 18, no. 2 (Spring 2004); Hans- Hermann Hoppe, “Property, Causality, and Liability,” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 7, no. 4 (Winter 2004) [cited in the text parenthetically as “Hoppe 2004”; and Stephan Kinsella & Patrick Tinsley, “Causation and Aggression,” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 7, no. 4 (Winter 2004) [cited in the text parenthetically as “Kinsella & Tinsley 2004”]. 2 See Murray N. Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty, New York: New York University Press 1998, pp.