# Episode 135: Coercion and Critical Rationalism

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-theory-of-anything-859886/episode-135-coercion-and-critical-rationalism
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-theory-of-anything-859886/episode-135-coercion-and-critical-rationalism.md
Podcast: [The Theory of Anything](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-theory-of-anything-859886)
Published: 2026-03-10T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/four-strands/episodes/Episode-135-Coercion-and-Critical-Rationalism-e3fepco
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/14b6fc10/podcast/play/115876696/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-1-22%2Ff73b157f-b678-def3-56ca-62eca187415b.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-theory-of-anything-859886/episodes/episode-135-coercion-and-critical-rationalism
Duration seconds: 6126

## Resource

Bruce examines how effectively critical rationalism can ground the non-aggression principle (NAP)—the libertarian idea that, in some formulation, it is morally wrong to initiate violence. But does it really make sense to interpret all areas of law through this single principle? Might it be better replaced by an alternative, such as a principle of least coercion? And what, from a critical rationalist perspective, does coercion actually mean? Is it a theory with substantial moral content, or an easy-to-vary principle that ultimately collapses into “coercion is whatever I dislike”? And how might we test between these alternating views? Bonus: What did Karl Popper think of Thomas Szasz's theories? ⁠⁠⁠⁠Support us on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠

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## Transcript

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