 Reason and Reality: The Logical Compatibility of Austrian Economics and Objectivism
by Heidi C. Lange
It is these shared values which make Objectivism and Austrian economics compatible: their respect for rationality; free choice; subjective and objective values, in their appropriate contexts; reality; and most important in a practical sense, a governmental system which allows for and protects a capitalistic free market. Both Objectivists and Austrian economists understand that human action is the driving force of the universe; that “every day human acts shape the world anew” (Lachman 1997, p. 29). (Read more...)
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Long on Plato - VII
by Fred Seddon
7TH LETTER P: Well, if you have read the section with care, you can’t really find anything approaching a “proof” that I am a mystic, a term of opprobrium in Objectivist’s circles. S: Then why do you think the word found a place in Long’s section title? P: I’m not sure. Although one can fi... (Read more...)
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Long on Plato - VI
by Fred Seddon
CRATYLUS Plato: Certainly. To see what is wrong with Long’s use of my Cratylus, one has only to restore the context from with the quotation was, may I say, ripped. Seddon: Proceed. P: Before I do, let me remind you what Long is trying to prove by quoting the dialogue. S: And that is?... (Read more...)
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An Answer to Robert Bidinotto on Moral Perfection
by Tom Rowland
Your anger betrays you, Robert. Because you are hurling all the epitaphs you claim are being hurled, at the people you claim are guilty (!) of hurling epitaphs. It’s a hurling contest (hearty laugh track). And you know what is messing up the floor. (Read more...)
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Long on Plato - V
by Fred Seddon
CRATYLUS Plato: Certainly. To see what is wrong with Long’s use of my Cratylus, one has only to restore the context from with the quotation was, may I say, ripped. Seddon: Proceed. P: Before I do, let me remind you what Long is trying to prove by quoting the dialogue. S: And that is?... (Read more...)
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Getting Rights Right
by Robert James Bidinotto
[Editor's note—I have long held that there is confusion in Rand's writings as to whether "rights" are metaphysical properties of human beings or ethical concepts. It is true that by the time she got round to addressing the question specifically in Galt's Speech she defined them as concepts, yet elsewhere she appeared to be positing rights as ready-made "things" one is born with in the same way one is born with two thumbs & eight fingers. In this post on the SOLOHQ thread, Who's Better Off?, Robert Bidinotto both clears the confusion up & demonstrates its consequences. — Linz]
Should the concept of "rights" be interpreted within a moral context of rational self-interest? Or is it a kind of Kantian "categorical imperative"—a metaphysical commandment that shouts "thou shalt not impose force," without regard to any considerations of rational self-interest? (Read more...)
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Long on Plato - IV
by Fred Seddon
REPUBLIC Seddon: Why don’t we turn now to the Republic. Long quotes it five times. Plato: And in doing so confuses two different methods. On p. 10 he tells us, “The Socratic Method--also called ‘dialectic’--proceeds by question and answer:” Then on p. 11, in the first half of a quilt quotation he writ... (Read more...)
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Selling Freedom: The Choice of a New Generation?
by Joseph C. Maurone
Christianity didn't get its current status by divine will, but by salesmanship. By following the lead of top Rand salesman Chris Sciabarra, Objectivism and freedom have a chance of becoming the all-time best-seller among ideologies. (Read more...)
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Hold Your Horses!
by Casey Fahy
This book should be read before it is judged—as should Rand's own words on this matter. They speak for themselves. (Read more...)
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Seddon's Salvos: Long on Plato - Part III
by Fred Seddon
Seddon: I love the Symposium, it’s my personal favorite and I love teaching it. How does Long do with this dialogue?
Plato: He doesn’t do too much with the Symposium. In fact, he quotes it right after quoting Republic 517e thinking that they make the same point, i.e., that rationality “turns out to be substantive rather than merely procedural.” (Read more...)
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Eddie's Enigma: Objectivism and Human Nature
by Ron Merrill
What I have presented is a new view of human nature, and one that many of us might find depressing. It may seem like a picture of human weakness. But A is A. Human nature is what it is. Ayn Rand taught us to seek out the best within us. And it is only by understanding exactly what is within us that we can seek out the best, and remake ourselves into that image. (Read more...)
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Two Halves of Independence
by Joseph Rowlands
In Objectivist discussion of independence, the focus has generally been on the virtue of thinking for yourself. Independent judgment is viewed as the primary component of the virtue. You need to use your own best judgment when it comes to determining your values, considering facts, or deciding how to act. This is in... (Read more...)
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ARI's Yaron Brook at GA Tech - An Incredibly Surprising Lecture
by Tom Blackstone
As I listened to this guy answer my questions, I was shocked at how completely reasonable he seemed. He contradicted everything I had been led to believe about ARI from reading essays on their website and from seeing him on television. He wasn't some kind of cult fanatic. He was simply a reasonable person with very strong views, just like me. (Read more...)
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The Radicalism of Objectivism
by Ron Merrill
The late Ron Merrill speaks about what is radical about Objectivism - and what it implies qua praxis. (Read more...)
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Long on Plato Part II
by Fred Seddon
PHAEDO P: So let’s begin with the Phaedo. All of my works are dramatic and have their own individual dramatic setting or context, if I may use a word much favored, and with good reason, by Rand and the Objectivists. The Phaedo has a mythical setting. And the specific myth that I had in mind I tell the reader... (Read more...)
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Double-Standards and Ayn Rand's Personal Life
by Andrew Bissell
Critics who obsess over the details of Ayn Rand's personal life give free-passes to the offenses of other writers and thinkers. (Read more...)
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Ayn Rand's Philosophical Style: A Brief Introduction
by Neil Parille
Ayn Rand is a forceful and engaging writer who compels her readers to see the consequences of holding certain ideas. In spite of certain weaknesses in her style, she has encouraged millions to take up the study of philosophy. (Read more...)
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Going Home... A Few Thoughts on Family Values
by Michael Stuart Kelly
Where does family fit in with Objectivism? (Read more...)
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Saturday
February 26, 2005 |
Seddon's Salvos - Rand on Rawls
by Fred Seddon
Rand is using a book she never read to predict the style and future success of a book she vows never to read. (Read more...)
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Natural Functions, Natural Goals, and the Misuse of Purpose
by Adam Reed
The human faculty of auditory pattern recognition evolved for the function of hunting. Is every man who chooses to exercise this faculty by listening to a symphony, rather than for stalking small animals in the brush, an "unnatural" pervert? I have hunted, and I have reproduced, and I have nothing against either. But listening purely for music, and sex purely for pleasure and love, is surely, for a Human animal, the most natural thing in the world. (Read more...)
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Saturday
February 12, 2005 |
Anti-Discrimination Laws Are Anti-Liberty
by Jason Dixon
It is ironic that gay people defend their right to live their lives as they see fit with the argument that one can’t legislate morality—and then turn around and attempt to legislate morality. (Read more...)
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Objectivism and the Status of Children: a Tentative Suggestion
by Matthew Humphreys
An effort to prime what I hope will be a constructive debate on an issue I believe requires much attention. (Read more...)
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Sex and St. Thomas
by Fred Seddon
I can find no way of saving Thomas's argument against sodomy within the confines of natural theology. (Read more...)
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The Incredible Mystics Amongst Us
by Marcus Bachler
There was recently film released called “the Incredibles” that clearly favours “mysticism of the spirit” over reason and yet has been touted by SOLOists here as celebrating “Objectivist morality”. (Read more...)
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A Tool for Living: The Relevance of Ayn Rand's Ideas to Gay People
by Jason Dixon
There is a group of people who – by and large – have an early impetus to investigate philosophical questions. Earlier in life than others, they find the “popular” or “traditional” answers to the question of morality in particular wanting and unhelpful. This group is gay people. (Read more...)
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