freebroccoli:

thepeacockangel:

freebroccoli:

thepeacockangel:

But hunger forces you to take the job, a job that may be excessively dangerous, for absurdly low pay, having basic standards prevents these abuses of the system.  Forcing a man dangling off the edge of a cliff to give you his wallet is not a free choice.

The condition of hunger itself is imposed on you by nature. Even if there was nobody else around, the need to avoid starvation or to avoid falling off the cliff is going to be present regardless of whether there’s someone around who is willing to trade with you. Being coerced by nature doesn’t grant you the right to coerce someone else.

The matter here is not that libertarianism fails to acknowledge the influence of hunger, it simply regards the matter differently because a force without moral agency like nature can’t be treated the same way as a being with agency.

You can commit evil by omission as well as comission

It’s only evil by omission if you believe that one person has an enforceable moral claim on the life of another.

Humans are interdependent social animals, we all have claim on one another because that is how social animals work.  We assist each other.  If you are having an interaction with another human being, you owe it to them to act by the golden rule.  The golden rule applies situationally.  So for example, if a person is drowning in a river and there is a rope and you happen to walk by there is a moral imperative to throw them the end of that rope.  If there is no rope you are obligated to run for help or throw them the end of your belt or something, walking by is not an acceptable answer.  You are not obligated to seek out people who are drowning, but you are obligated to try and help someone you see drowning.

We are not solitary creatures.  We are social creatures.  If you are going to employ someone there is a moral imperative not to take advantage of their being in a desperate situation.  Do you think it’s okay to loan shark?  Do you think it’s okay to charge someone 2 million dollars because you have the only medication that will save their child’s life?  Do you think it’s okay to pay people next to nothing to do dangerous, back breaking work because they’re desperate?  Do you think it’s okay for children to get their limbs ripped off by machinery while they work in a factory, unable to attend school because it’s the only way their family can afford to eat?  This is what market forces do.