I’m very sympathetic to libertarian thought, and have been for years. However, I don’t classify myself as a libertarian for various reasons.

Nevertheless, what is libertarianism?

Essentially, it’s a political philosophy advocating:

maximising individual freedom;

minimising the role of the state;

and the belief in free will.

I have some conflict with the first bullet, but the third bullet is the one that gets me. I am on the fence about free will.

Could it be that free will is largely an illusion and that a lot of our decisions are made based on factors beyond our control, as noted by thinkers such as Scott Adams and Steven Pinker?

I don’t know.

Martin van Staden, from the Free Market Foundation, chatted to me about all of this. Watch the video