Thursday
December 11, 2003 |
  The Ethics - Politics Connection
by Joseph Rowlands
Objectivists hold that politics is grounded in ethics. Even in non-Objectivist thought, every political theory is based on some ethical premises. The welfare state is dependent on egalitarianism and the static view of life. Communism is dependent on altruism, collectivism, and materialism. And of course, Objectivist politics is grounded in Objectivist ethics. (Read more...)
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Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and Religion (Part 1 of 4)
by Neil Parille
A 4-part paper that discusses Ayn Rand's view of religion. (Read more...)
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The Professionalization of Ayn Rand Scholarship
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
Having recently celebrated the completion of four years of publication for The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (see my Free Radical article on the subject), I was asked on a discussion group about the presence of Ayn Rand in other professional, scholarly journals. (Read more...)
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Unrugged Individualism Reviewed
by Joseph Rowlands
David Kelley wrote Unrugged Individualism to be "the first comprehensive Objectivist analysis of benevolence". In this short monograph (59 pages), he makes an excellent start. (Read more...)
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Fundamental Premises
by Joseph Rowlands
A question that often comes up is what the difference between philosophy and science is. (Read more...)
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Getting Rights Right
by Russell Madden
Over the past century, the concept of "rights" has gradually been so distorted and twisted that its bloated and grotesque face is now barely recognizable. (Read more...)
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Values and Virtues: Von Mises and Rand
by Russell Madden
While subjective wishes may be important in understanding human motivation, any such desires that undermine life should be understood and labeled for what they are: destruction. (Read more...)
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A Critique of Murray Rothbard's "Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult" (Part 3 of 3)
by G. Stolyarov II
"The 'Gold' of Rothbard's Analysis", "Randian Authoritarianism?", and "In Summation". (Read more...)
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A Critique of Murray Rothbard's "Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult" (Part 2 of 3)
by G. Stolyarov II
"What is Humor and What is Sacrilage" and "Revisionism and the Hatred of the Good". (Read more...)
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A Critique of Murray Rothbard's "Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult" (Part 1 of 3)
by G. Stolyarov II
Introduction and "The Reason-Passion Dichotomy" (Read more...)
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Rational Individualism
by Joseph Rowlands
In Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, Howard Roark was a man who didn't care what other people thought. Well, actually he did in some ways. He cared about his friends, and he was concerned about why some people were secondhanders. But the fact that people thought things didn't matter to him in the sense that it wasn't a reason to believe or disbelieve that thing. An idea was either true or false, and he used his own mind to determine that. (Read more...)
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An Objectivist Condemnation of Abortion
by G. Stolyarov II
A dissenting opinion on abortion, in which the author argues the incompatibility of Rand's stance on abortion with the fundamentals of her philosophy. (Read more...)
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Understanding the Global Crisis: Reclaiming Rand’s Radical Legacy
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
"The tree of liberty," Thomas Jefferson wrote, "must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." And so, when I saw those startling images of a liberated Iraq-those first photos of fellow New Yorker, Major David "Bull" Guerfin of the U.S. Marines, ripping down the poster of Saddam Hussein in Safwan or that riveting footage of fellow Brooklynite, Marine Cpl. Edward Chin, helping jubilant Iraqis in Baghdad's Firdos Square to topple Hussein's 20-foot statue-it seemed to me that Jefferson's remark was as true as ever. (Read more...)
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Foreign Policy
by Joseph Rowlands
A rational foreign policy must ultimately be based on an individualist ethics. (Read more...)
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The Scope of Moral Failure
by Barry Kayton
Is it wrong to regard the moral failures or suffering of others with indifference? (Read more...)
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Objectivism and Zen
by Paul Hibbert
Until several months ago when I read the speech, 'John Galt Recants', by David Stewart I thought I was the only person on the planet who believed that Objectivism and Zen weren't mutually exclusionary. (Read more...)
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Repeating Peter Keating
by Eric Rockwell
I ran into none other than Peter Keating today. First I passed him walking south on Ninth Avenue, schmoozing someone on his cell phone. Then I noticed him sitting in a Chinese restaurant, using chopsticks rather than silverware so as to better assimilate to the restaurant's culture. When I arrived at work, the elevator doors opened to reveal eleven Peter Keatings, all of whom flashed a smile at me in the event that I was someone who might better their status. (Read more...)
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Of Fundamentals and Fidelity - The Sequel
by Lindsay Perigo
I decided instead briefly to state or restate my own position on a few matters germane to this discussion. (Read more...)
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The Self-Centered Monster
by Kyrel Zantonavitch
For the past 150 years or so Western Civilization has been divided up into two, and only two, overwhelmingly familiar ideological groups: right and left. The right or "conservative" group tends to favor religion -- or at least "Christian democracy" -- in its political, philosophical, and cultural views. The left or "progressive" group tends to favor socialism -- or at least "social democracy" -- in its political, philosophical, and cultural views. (Read more...)
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Of Fundamentals and Fidelity
by Lindsay Perigo
Perigo explores the issue of open and closed philosophical systems. Found out what Objectivism really is. (Read more...)
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Human nature--who needs it?
by Cameron Pritchard
What is human nature, anyway? Does the concept of human nature have any validity? (Read more...)
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SOLO -- Where We Are and Where We're Going
by Joseph Rowlands
What is SOLO? Joe Rowlands tells you in this recent speech... (Read more...)
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Partisanship vs. Objectivity in Ayn Rand Scholarship
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
Imagine, for a moment, if we boycotted all those books written by people with whom we'd not "knowingly" associate, whether or not we have actually read the books or have met the people. What a victory for human knowledge! (Read more...)
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Objectivism and Homosexuality 5: Ayn Rand and Beyond
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
The conclusion of the series. (Read more...)
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Is Reality a Simulation Game?
by Francois Tremblay
Religious mystics propose that it is the supernatural that is the true reality; meditators propose the absence of thought as a profoundly significant state of being; Idealist philosophers propose a "realm of ideas" which is the true reality; promoters of Near-Death Experiences propose that the NDE is the highter reality... (Read more...)
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