libertariann.adj.
/ˌlɪbəˈtɛːrɪən/, U.S. /ˌlɪbərˈtɛriən/ A. n.
1. Philosophy. A person who holds the doctrine that human beings possess free will. Cf. determinist n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > [noun] > one who holds the doctrine of
free-willer1614
Frank-arbitrian1633
volent1768
libertarian1789
free-willist1867
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of will > [noun] > libertarianism and its adherents
libertarian1789
libertarianism1830
1789 W. Belsham Ess. I. i. 11 Where is the difference between the Libertarian..and the Necessarian?
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1860) IV. xxx. 113 When the Libertarian descends to arguments drawn from the fact of the Moral Law.
1895 G. J. Romanes Thoughts Relig. 129 If libertarians grant causality as appertaining to the will.
1912 Mind 21 213 Is it clear..that Bergson's act, which involves the ‘whole personality’, is free in the vital sense for which Libertarians ought to care?
1964 Amer. Q. 16 131 The perennial debate between libertarians and determinists in the West.
2006 A. R. Mele Free Will & Luck iv. 94 A libertarian may see an agent's indeterministically initiating some actions of his as crucial to his being a free, morally responsible agent.
2.
a. An advocate or defender of liberty (esp. in the political and social spheres).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > [noun] > zeal for > advocate of
liberty boy1767
libertarian1796
emancipationist1822
libertist1826
1796 London Packet 12 Feb. Lately marched out of the Prison at Bristol, 450 of the French Libertarians.
1858 Band Hope Rec. Mar. 31/2 Be sure, O libertarian! that this toil and task of twenty-five years has been a notable and providential work of social regeneration.
1878 J. R. Seeley Life & Times Stein III. ix. i. 355 It is only the latter who can be properly said to defend liberty, so that we might conveniently call him a libertarian.
1901 F. W. Maitland in Eng. Hist. Rev. July 419 A supply of competent editors was wanted [for the Rolls Series]... In such matters Englishmen are individualists and libertarians. The picture of an editor defending his proof sheets..before an official board of critics is not to our liking.
1966 New Statesman 22 Apr. 602/2 She is a libertarian and was not happy under the dictatorship of Hassan II.
1995 Hist. Today (Nexis) Oct. 13 Some more respectful secularists and libertarians shunned Foote's tactics completely.
b. Politics (originally U.S.). An advocate or supporter of libertarianism (libertarianism n. 2b). Also: a member of any of various political parties promoting libertarianism.
ΚΠ
1945 H. C. Simons in Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 53 214 Libertarians would radically alter the private financial structure, economizing kinds of intervention and purging the old system of anomalies.
1966 Washington Post 30 July a17/1 I used to think of myself as a ‘libertarian’, or an ‘anti-Statist’... But in a world that has no room for subtleties, we libertarians find ourselves classified as conservatives.
1972 N.Y. Times 6 Feb. i. 47/6 Asked at a news conference if the approach of the Libertarians was not close to anarchy, Mr. Nolan replied, ‘Anarchy is simply Libertarianism carried to an unworkable extreme.’
1991 Sat. Night (Toronto) Nov. 31/3 He was coming straight back to Toronto, presumably to lead the Libertarians to victory in the Canadian federal election.
1996 R. H. Bork Slouching towards Gomorrah ii. vii. 150 Libertarians join forces with modern liberals in opposing censorship.
B. adj.
1. Philosophy. Relating to or characterized by the doctrine that human beings possess free will; advocating such a doctrine.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of will > [adjective] > relating to other doctrines
libertarian1803
voluntaristic1903
1803 Christian Observer Dec. 737/1 A letter which, if rejected by you, will, I am persuaded, owe its rejection to better reasons than its libertarian complexion.
1884 F. L. Patton in P. Schaff et al. Relig. Encycl. III. 2524/1 The libertarian doctrine is now taught by appealing to consciousness.
1912 H. H. Horne Free Will & Human Responsibility ii. 23 Passing from the deterministic to the Greek libertarian philosophers, we find such names as Prodicus, the Sophist; Plato [etc.].
1972 Jrnl. Moral Philos. 69 527 Lucas's final position is libertarian: only freedom from mechanistic causation can give men moral responsibility.
2003 R. Clarke Libertarian Accts. Free Will v. 74 On this type of libertarian view, a directly free decision is a matter of chance.
2.
a. Esp. in political contexts: advocating or defending liberty.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > [adjective]
libertarian1896
1896 Reynolds's Newspaper 2 Feb. 1/5 Logically it follows that Collectivism or Communism under an an-archistic or libertarian form are Socialism.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 2 Oct. 2/1 No wonder the libertarian woman rebels.
1969 Listener 15 May 666/1 The political activists..belong to what is known as the libertarian Left.
2007 P. Hinks & J. McKivigan Encycl. Antislavery & Abolition 350 Jean-Jacques Rousseau..supplied much of the ideological foundation for the libertarian impulse in antislavery thought.
b. Politics (originally U.S.). Of, designating, or advocating the political philosophy of libertarianism (libertarianism n. 2b). Also (with capital initial): of or designating any of various political parties promoting this philosophy.
ΚΠ
1944 H. C. Simons in Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 236 192 Arch enemy of nazism, communism, socialism, syndicalism, protectionism, and all governmental interventionalism, he is also perhaps the worst enemy of his own libertarian cause.
1964 Chicago Tribune 22 Mar. ix. 4/3 The libertarian strain in modern conservative thinking is emphasized by two first-rate economists who stand for integral liberty with an economy committed to the principles of the free market.
1972 N.Y. Times 6 Feb. i. 47/2 The new Libertarian party..would cut Government intervention sharply both at home and abroad and encourage civil liberties and unrestricted capitalism.
1995 H. Stern Miss Amer. xiii. 541 I was all set to endorse him wholeheartedly when Robin reminded me that I had already endorsed the Libertarian candidate.
2002 Backwoods Home Mag. July–Aug. 6/2 The ultraliberal cities of the East eagerly suck down tax dollars the Federal Government has extorted from the thousands of conservative and libertarian small towns across America.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1789