FREEDOM
PARTY INTERNATIONAL'S PHILOSOPHY
Philosophical
knowledge has a hierarchical structure. That which
is true about reality (metaphysics) dictates
what can and cannot be true about the way in which
man
obtains
knowledge (epistemology). That which is true
about epistemology dictates what can and cannot be
true about
what an individual should and should not do (ethics).
That which is true about ethics dictates what can
and cannot
be true about what should be the nature of relations
among human individuals (politics).
Every
political party affiliated with Freedom Party International
is founded on the principle that "Every individual, in
the peaceful pursuit of personal fulfillment, has an absolute
right to his or her own life, liberty and property". The
meaning of the founding
principle is: to ensure that relations
between individuals remain consensual, it is morally right
for
an individual to use physical force to defend his or her
own life, liberty and property, or to ensure that justice
prevails when his or her own life, liberty or property
has been violated.
Freedom
Party International specifies and advocates the metaphysical,
epistemological, ethical
and political philosophies from which the founding principle
of each of its affiliated political parties is derived:
Metaphysics (Reality):
Freedom Party International regards
nothing
as supernatural or magical. That which exists,
exists physically
and naturally. The universe exists independently of
ones own mind and is not affected by what one merely thinks,
prays, wishes, or hopes about the nature of reality.
Epistemology (Reason):
Man's only method of discovering knowledge of that which
exists
is by using the faculty that separates him from the rest
of the animal kingdom: his ability to reason. It
is man's rational faculty that allows him to think rationally about
his perceptions of the world around him, and about the
concepts that his rational efforts have allowed him to
discover.
Ethics (Self):
Freedom Party's ethical philosophy holds that one's own life
is ones highest value, that ones own happiness is
ones highest purpose in life, and that ones own happiness
can be achieved only if one thinks rationally (which implies
thinking for oneself). Freedom Party's ethical philosophy
holds that it is vile to sacrifice ones self for others,
or to sacrifice others to ones self. In our philosophy,
it is morally right to put ones self first.
Politics (Consent):
Freedom Party takes the view that the initiation of
coercive physical
force has no place in relations between individuals,
and that all relations between and among individuals
- and
between governments and those they govern - must be
consensual.
FPI is a proponent
of capitalism. Capitalism recognizes and defends reason
as man’s sole means of survival. In a capitalist
society, goods and services are distributed by consensual
trade, not by physical coercion. Being a system in which
coercive physical force is used only to defend each person’s
life, liberty and property, capitalism is the only system
compatible with human life.
FPI, and its affiliated
political parties, promote capitalism expressly on
the ground that it is the only social system compatible
with reality,
reason, rational self-interest, and consent. FPI
is opposed to attempts to promote capitalism with appeals
to altruistic, irrational (e.g., skepticism, faith,
group
consensus), or supernatural rationale.
FPI opposes all forms
of collectivist social systems, including: communism,
socialism, fascism (a.k.a. "corporativism",
or "corporatism"), and naziism.
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