Proportionality trumps gentleness: reforming Block's evictionism (part I)
| Autor | Cedric John Ayres |
| Cargo | Master in Philosophy from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Recife-PE, Brasil) and graduated in Philosophy ('Licenciatura') from the same institution, where he served as Substitute Professor (2017-2018) |
| Páginas | 407-433 |
Licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons
Proportionality trumps gentleness: reforming
Block’s evictionism (part I)
A proporcionalidade supera a gentileza: reformando
o eviccionismo de Block (parte I)
CEDRIC JOHN AYRES I, *
I Instituto Federal de Pernambuco (Recife, Pernambuco, Brasil)
cedi.ayres@hotmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9912-0587
Recebido/Received: 15.06.2020 / June 15th, 2020
Aprovado/Approved: 08.02.2021 / February 8th, 2021
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais
ISSN 2359-5639
DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v8i2.74518
Rev. Investig. Const., Curitiba, vol. 8, n. 2, p. 407-433, maio/ago. 2021. 407
Como citar esse artigo/How to cite this article: AYRES, Cedric John. Proportionality trumps gentleness: reforming Block’s
evictionism (part I). Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 8, n. 2, p. 407-433, maio/ago. 2021.
DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v8i2.74518.
* Master in Philosophy from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Recife-PE, Brasil) and graduated in Philosophy (“Li-
cenciatura”) from the same institution, where he served as Substitute Professor (2017-2018). E-mail: cedi.ayres@hotmail.com.
Abstract
This paper argues against the most important theoretical
foundations which Walter Block uses to defend his thesis
that Evictionism legitimizes indirectly deadly evictions
of a progeny while simultaneously forbidding abortion.
It begins by presenting Block’s Gentleness principle and
Rothbard’s principle Proportionality separately. Then, it
compares both principles to analyze how satisfactorily
each of them deals with some important general prob-
lems of libertarian legal theory. The ‘bubble gum theft’
scenario is the main tool for this comparison because
both authors uses ‘petty theft’ examples to illustrate
their respective principles. This paper’s conclusions are
as follows: First, every moment of crime is interconnect-
ed. Second, proportionality applies to every moment of
crime. Third, that Block’s so-called ‘gentleness principle’
is not only redundant to proportionality, but also can-
not be a libertarian principle for two reasons: (1) it im-
plies positive rights and obligations; (2) it presupposes
Resumo
Este artigo argumenta contra as fundamentações teóricas
mais importantes que Walter Block usa para defender a sua
tese de que o eviccionismo legitima expulsões indiretamen-
te fatais à prole enquanto simultaneamente proíbe abortos.
O artigo começa apresentando o princípio da gentileza de
Block e, separadamente, o princípio da proporcionalidade
de Rothbard. Depois, comparam-se ambos os princípios
para analisar o quão satifatoriamente cada um deles lida
com alguns importantes problemas gerais da teoria jurídi-
ca do libertarianismo. O cenário do ‘roubo do chiclete’ é a
principal ferramenta para tal comparação porque ambos
os autores usam exemplos de ‘roubo de bagatela’ para ilus-
trar os seus respectivos princípios. As conclusões deste arti-
go são as seguintes: Primeiro, cada momento do crime está
interconectado. Segundo, a proporcionalidade se aplica
a todos os momentos do crime. Terceiro, que o assim cha-
mado ‘princípio da gentileza’ de Block é não apenas redun-
dante à proporcionalidade, mas também não pode ser um
CEDRIC JOHN AYRES
Rev. Investig. Const., Curitiba, vol. 8, n. 2, p. 407-433, maio/ago. 2021.
408
CONTENTS
1. Introduction: The Problem of Indirectly Deadly Evictions; 2. Block’s gentleness; 3. Rothbard’s pro-
portionality; 4. The underlying principle of crime; 5. How harmful can a bubble gum thief really be?
6. Positive Defense or Negative Oense? 7. Innocence: Relative or Absolute? 8. Proportional Retribu-
tion or Gentle deterrence? 9. The Positive Rights of Victims or The Negative Prohibition of Criminals?
10. Conclusion: Proportional Evictions or Gentle Abortions? 11. References.
1. INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OF INDIRECTLY DEADLY EVIC
TIONS
The traditional libertarian stance on abortion has been based on Rothbard’s in-
sight of interpreting this issue as a matter of trespassing. Since the mother is the legiti-
mate owner of her own body, if she considers her progeny1 unwanted, then her progeny
is a trespasser, and therefore may be aborted. Why? Because by removing the invader
from her ‘premisses’, she would be acting in self-defense against a criminal trespasser2.
Block builds Evictionism upon this original libertarian insight. He elaborates on
it by making a logical distinction between the act of evicting a progeny and the act of
killing a progeny. Under libertarian law, he argues, the rst would be legitimate while
the second would not. This is, in a nutshell, what he calls Evictionism.
1 I use the term progeny because I believe it to be more neutral. It has several advantages: it can be used for
every stage of both pre- and post-natal development; besides, although some may disagree on when human
rights begin, by using this term they may still recognize the validity of my arguments regardless of their beliefs.
To contextualize this discussion, Block himself argues from the point of view that human life, with the same
rights as any other adult human, begins immediately at conception. Meanwhile, Rothbard thinks that a proge-
ny is certainly not yet human before birth.
2 As Rothbard states in Ethics of Liberty, “Abortion should be looked upon, not as ‘murder’ of a living person,
but as the expulsion of an unwanted invader from the mother’s body”. He then adds that no humans “have the
right to be coercive parasites within the body of an unwilling human host”. ROTHBARD, Murray, The Ethics of
Liberty, 2nd. ed. New York: NYU Press, 1998, p. 98Available at: <https://cdn.mises.org/The%20Ethics%20of%20
Liberty%2020191108.pdf>... Also in For a New Liberty, he makes it very clear that “What the mother is doing
in an abortion is [just] causing an unwanted entity within her body to be ejected from it: If the fetus dies, this
does not rebut the point that no being has a right to live, unbidden, as a parasite within or upon some person’s
body” ROTHBARD, Murray, For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, 2nd. ed. Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig
von Mises Institute, 2006, p. 132. Available at: https://cdn.mises.org/For%20a%20New%20Liberty%20The%20
Libertarian%20Manifesto_3.pdf.
a deterrence penology. This paper is the rst in a series
of three in an attempt to reform the standard libertarian
stance on abortion.
Keywords: abortion; evictionism; libertarianism; propor-
tionality; gentleness.
princípio libertário por duas razões: (1) implica em direitos e
obrigações positivas; (2) pressupõe um penalismo dissuasi-
vo. Este artigo é o primeiro em uma série de três na tentativa
de reformar o posicionamento padrão do libertarianismo a
respeito do aborto.
Palavras-chave: aborto; eviccionismo; libertarianismo;
proporcionalidade; gentileza.
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