> Force is anything that attempts to contravene the independent will of another human being. That can be done by whacking someone on the head, pointing a gun at them, or gaslighting and lying to them to the point that their judgement is deeply impaired.
I find this definition of force somewhat counter to most libertarian positions I've seen. When it comes to employer/employee relationships, what is the need to eat other than "pointing a gun at [the employee]"? Under this definition of force, how can employees ever enter into contractual agreements with employers freely? Especially at bottom of the labor ladder, where the struggle to meet basic needs is more acute.
There is no easy canned answer. If there were easy answers to questions like this the world would be way simpler. Yet I can't even imagine how you can have a free society without some respect for the honesty. Without that at the very least people will start taking the law into their own hands, which leads to collapse and the tyranny of the nearest person with a big stick.
I find this definition of force somewhat counter to most libertarian positions I've seen. When it comes to employer/employee relationships, what is the need to eat other than "pointing a gun at [the employee]"? Under this definition of force, how can employees ever enter into contractual agreements with employers freely? Especially at bottom of the labor ladder, where the struggle to meet basic needs is more acute.