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Does fraud require deliberate deception?

Some libertarians, most notably Walter Block, have tried to argue that fraud does not require deliberate deception. For example, argues Block, if I tried to sell you a square circle, and I believed that square circles existed, and so did you, and you agreed to the transaction, then, since square circles do not actually exist, this would still count as fraud, even though no deliberate deception has taken place. Block has used this argument to indict fractional reserve banking, by arguing that it still counts as fraud even though all parties are knowingly consenting. Is he talking rationalist nonsense?

Adam , 24.08.2013, 03:54
Idea status: completed

Comments

legendre007, 28.08.2013, 02:51
I have been wondering about something that I think is related to this: hypothetically, what if I own a health news website that proclaims that if children are given HPV vaccines, it will make them infertile by age 16? Therefore, this health news website tries to scare parents out of having their children receive vaccines. What if some people, following my health news advice, refrain from having their children receive the vaccines, and those children later contract HPV and develop cervical cancer? If it turns out that my website's claim is inaccurate, but I genuinely believe in that claim to the very end, does this mean that my website is honestly mistaken and innocent of fraud?

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