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.