Libertarianism is a term used by a broad spectrumStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Libertarianism, Stanford University, July 24, 2006 version. of political philosophies which prioritize individual liberty and seek to minimize or even abolish the state. The definition of libertarian in a political sense is a contentious issue and libertarians agree on no single principle or set of principles. The proper role of government is described from a number of different metaphysical, epistemological, and moral viewpoints. The word libertarian is an antonym of authoritarian.

History

"Libertarian" was originally used by free-thinkers to mean those who believed in free-will (as opposed to determinism).David Boaz, Libertarianism: A Primer, Free Press, 1998, 22-25. Libertarianism is still used in metaphysical discussions of free will. The first recorded usage of the term "libertarian" was by William Belsham in 1789".

Political Adoption

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, "the first person willingly to call himself an anarchist," outlined a "libertarian society based on cooperation, as opposed to competition and coercion, and functioning without the need for government authority."

The term libertarian was first popularized in France in the 1890s in order to counter and evade the anti-anarchist laws known as the les lois scélérates.Fact: date=September 2008 According to the anarchist historian Max Nettlau, the first use of the term libertarian communism was in November 1880, when a French anarchist congress employed it to more clearly identify its doctrines. The French anarchist journalist Sébastien Faure, later founder and editor of the four-volume Anarchist Encyclopedia, started the weekly paper Le Libertaire (The Libertarian) in 1895.Le Libertaire, 1895.

In the United States, libertarianism as a synonym for anarchism had meantime begun to take hold. The anarchist communist geographer and social theorist Peter Kropotkin wrote in his seminal 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article Anarchism that:

"It would be impossible to represent here, in a short sketch, the penetration, on the one hand, of anarchist ideas into modern literature, and the influence, on the other hand, which the libertarian ideas of the best contemporary writers have exercised upon the development of anarchism."Peter Kropotkin, "Anarchism" 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Today, worldwide, anarchist communist, libertarian socialist, and other left-libertarian movements continue to describe themselves as libertarian. These styles of libertarianism are opposed to most or all forms of private property but would not use a coercive state to abolish it.