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Argument: Libertarian "full self-ownership" permits voluntary enslavement
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- "Libertarianism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - "Let us now consider four important objections to full self-ownership. One objection is that it permits voluntary enslavement. For agents have, it claims, not only the right to control the use of their person, but also the right to transfer that right (e.g., by sale or gift) to others. Some libertarians—such as Rothbard (1982)—deny that such transfer is even possible, since others cannot control one's will. This, however, seems to be a mistake, since what is at issue is the moral right to control permissible use (by giving or denying permission), not the psychological capacity to control. Many authors—such as Locke (1690) and Grunebaum (1987)—deny that the rights over oneself are so transferable, typically on the ground that such transfers undermine one's autonomy. These authors thus reject full self-ownership, although they endorse a partial form. Those who defend the right of self-enslavement—Steiner (1994), for example—typically defend it on the ground (roughly) that the right to exercise one's autonomy is more fundamental than the protection or promotion of one's autonomy."