Religion and the Lies Inherent in Intrinsic Contracts

Barry Belmont — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:22:07 +0000

How exactly is a libertarian to respond to the following video? It would appear that participation within a religion is a free exercise of one’s will. On the other hand, many people believe in a particular religion because they are afraid of the consequences if they don’t (the threat of eternal torture would be enough to invalidate any earthly contract, why should it be different for a cosmic one?). On yet another hand, the man in this video isn’t causing this woman in direct harm and is probably making her feel temporarily very good, something she may value highly. And yet, on a different hand entirely, he likely prevented her from receiving the actual medical attention she needed and at the very least lied to her (in the sense that it is quite unlike that all that BAM BAM BAMing made the God of the Universe cure her hip condition).

Tell me liberty-loving folks, what do you make of this:

Analog Dilemma: Contracts

Barry Belmont — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:20:33 +0000

Situation:

Barry didn’t post an Analog Dilemma last week. I really look forward to those things. He posted one every week, just like he said he would in his first post. I came to expect him to post one every week and yet, last week, there was nothing.

He broke his promise. Ok, maybe he didn’t break a promise, but there was an implicit understanding between us that he would provide such-and-such and such-and-such would be given to him in exchange. We entered into a contract–there really is no other term for it–and he opted out.

He’s got a lot to answer for. And he’ll probably just end up asking twenty questions.

Questions:

What does it mean to break a contract? What makes a contract legally binding and a promise only a minor moral quibble? When we say we are going to do something are we actually saying that if we don’t do it there should be consequences? Are all contracts the same? How do I know if I enter into a contract? How do I know when I can consent to enter into a contract? Are contracts that can’t be consensual really contracts? Is there, along that line, really any such thing as an ‘implicit contract’? When I go to Starbuck’s and I order a cup of coffee and the bill comes out to be $10,000, did an injustice occur somewhere? Don’t our expectations factor into our decision to make agreements and come to terms? If every explicit term of a deal cannot be thoroughly explicated before the participants engage in it (for instance, when I purchase a cheeseburger from MacDonald’s I assume too much to be written: they’re not going to kill me, hurt, rob, maim, question, suntan, wax, insult, love me), what does need to be said? And how would you know? What does it take to enter a contract? Did Barry enter one with his claim that he would do an Analog Dilemma every week? Why or why not? If you didn’t even know that Barry violated this contract, has he really harmed you in any way? Could Barry have written this post if he had written another last week? Is lying the breaking of a contract? If not, is it okay to lie in a libertarian world without consequences?

UNR Students for Liberty » Contracts

Religion and the Lies Inherent in Intrinsic Contracts

Analog Dilemma: Contracts