Frederic Bastiat

Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) is a well-known french classical liberal author, very much appreciated by all libertarians for both his very lively and understandable style and his deep theoretical insight.

His career as economist started only in 1844, and ended with his death in 1850.

Bastiat definitely embodies the "Harmonic" school of libertarians, who consider utilitarian and natural law arguments as two complementary aspects of a same world.

Bastiat did not take part in the anarchist vs minarchist debate (he arguably died too early for that); he seems to have considered State as something inevitable as far as immediate practical things matter, something that ought to be taken into account as long as it existed. He also explicitly deplored violent revolution as a way to get rid of governments.

See also:

• /debate with Proudhon

References

• The [Library of Economics and Liberty] publishes most english translations of his works.
• [Bastiat.org] publishes or indexes all about Bastiat.
• [The Cercle Frederic Bastiat] also publishes about Bastiat, and promotes the same tradition of libertarianism.

/Talk