Jan Narveson (; born 1936) is professor of

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

emeritus at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...

, in

Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the close proximity of the ci ...

, Canada. An

anarcho-capitalist Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enfo ...

and

contractarian In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is a theory or model that originated during the Age of Enlightenment and usually, although not always, concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social co ...

, Narveson's ideology is deeply influenced by the thought of

Robert Nozick Robert Nozick (; November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher. He held the Joseph Pellegrino University Professorship at Harvard University,

and

David Gauthier David Gauthier (; born 10 September 1932) is a Canadian-American philosopher best known for his neo-Hobbesian social contract (contractarian) theory of morality, as developed in his 1986 book ''Morals by Agreement''. Life and career Gauthie ...

Biography

Narveson was born in

Erskine, Minnesota Erskine is a city in Polk County, Minnesota. The population was 403 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Grand Forks region. History Erskine was laid out in 1889, and named for John Quincy Erskine, a Minnesota banker. A ...

, United States. He studied at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

where he obtained a BA in political science and in philosophy; he then spent a year at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

on a traveling fellowship before earning a PhD at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in 1961. His libertarian views have evolved from dissatisfaction with

utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different chara ...

. A prolific author, Narveson has written hundreds of essays, reviews and articles for publication. A critic of

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

, he is also known at the

for taking part in many on-campus debates. In 2002 he published ''Respecting Persons in Theory and Practice'' (2002), a collection of his most influential essays spanning the length of his career. His most recent work is ''You and the State: A Short Introduction to Political Philosophy''. Narveson is a long-time member of the

Ontario Libertarian Party The Ontario Libertarian Party (OLP; french: Parti libertarien de l'Ontario) is a minor libertarian party in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1975 by Bruce Evoy and Vince Miller, the party was inspired by the 1972 formation of the U ...

, and is currently a member of its Ethics Committee. Apart from his libertarian work, he is the founder/president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, a long-running venue for classical chamber music. In 2003, Narveson was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

by past Governor-General of Canada,

Adrienne Clarkson Adrienne Louise Clarkson (; ; born February 10, 1939) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist who served from 1999 to 2005 as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation. Clarkson arrived in Canada with her family in 19 ...

. Narveson was the founding Chairman and President of the Institute for Liberal Studies, and since 2016 has been Chairman Emeritus.

Criticism of animal rights

Narveson is a noted opponent of

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the s ...

and one of

Tom Regan Tom Regan (; November 28, 1938 – February 17, 2017) was an American philosopher who specialized in animal rights theory. He was professor emeritus of philosophy at North Carolina State University, where he had taught from 1967 until his reti ...

's severe critics.Taylor, Angus. (2003). ''Animals and Ethics: An Overview of the Philosophical Debate''. Broadview Press. pp. 74-76. He has defended a

account of morality in which only agents capable of agreeing to obligations and social rules have moral standing, therefore animals cannot have rights. Under contractarian ethics all moral obligations derive from mutual agreement between different parties but as animals can not understand the terms of an agreement nor demand duties from humans then the life and welfare of the animal is only relevant as they matter to human interests.Appleby, Michael C; Weary, Daniel M; Sandøe, Peter. (2014). ''Dilemmas in Animal Welfare''. CABI. p. 58.

Selected publications

* ''Morality and Utility'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967. * ''Moral Issues'', Oxford University Press, 1983.
''A Case Against Animal Rights''
Moorhead State University, 1986. * ''Political Correctness: For and Against'' co-authored with

Marilyn Friedman Marilyn Ann Friedman (born April 7, 1945) is an American philosopher. She holds the W. Alton Jones Chair of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Education In 1967, she received an A.B. in political science from Washington University in St. Louis ...

, Rowman & Littlefield, 1995. * ''Moral Matters'', 2nd ed., Broadview Press, 1999. * ''The Libertarian Idea'', Paperback edition (with new preface). Broadview Press, 2001. (Orig. pub.: Temple University Press, 1988) * ''Respecting Persons in Theory and Practice: Essays on Moral and Political Philosophy'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. * ''You and the State'', 2008. * ''This is Ethical Theory'', Open Court, 2010. * ''Are Liberty and Equality Compatible?'', Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Notes

External links

Homepage of Jan Narveson at the Univ. of Waterloo

Criticism of Narveson's Libertarianism
by

G. A. Cohen Gerald Allan Cohen, ( ; 14 April 1941 – 5 August 2009) was a Canadian political philosopher who held the positions of Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, University College London and Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, All So ...

An interview with Jan Narveson about the philosophy of Robert Nozick
by Peter Jaworski

* ttp://www.abolitionistapproach.com/media/mp3/tswi_animal_rights_090328_20090328_44_1kHz.mp3 A debate between Narveson and Gary Francione on Radio Netherlands on the issue of animal rights. {{DEFAULTSORT:Narveson, Jan 1936 births Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford American anarcho-capitalists American anti-communists American libertarians Canadian anti-communists Canadian libertarians Canadian philosophers Canadian political philosophers Critics of animal rights Harvard University alumni Libertarian theorists Officers of the Order of Canada University of Chicago alumni University of Waterloo faculty

Biography

Criticism of animal rights

Selected publications

See also

Notes

External links