 Sacrilege
by Eric Rockwell
When the likes of Ellsworth Toohey attacks something you value, what is the proper response? (Read more...)
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Always Irrational
by Joseph Rowlands
Emotionalism is a policy of making decisions based on your feelings, and not on your rational judgment. Some people may choose it intentionally, thinking their emotions are some secret insight to the truth. Others may do it because they just don't want to resist their emotional responses. Like all irrational moral p... (Read more...)
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Thursday
September 13, 2007 |
The Omnipotence Premise
by Joseph Rowlands
Philosophy is a powerful tool for developing an integrated understanding of the world. It sheds an enormous amount of light on most topics. You learn to see connections, to think in fundamentals, and to recognize principles. Philosophy enables you to see past the specifics of a single situation in order to see the b... (Read more...)
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Determinism is a Form of "Relativism;"and the Concept of Morality Entails "Agency"
by Ed Thompson
I found the truth of this title especially enlightening for the debate on 'determinism'. I reached this epiphany while re-reading what Alasdair MacIntyre had to say in his 1994 essay: Moral Relativism, Truth and Justification [found in the 1998 book entitled: The MacIntyre Reader -- edited by Kelvin Knight, and published by the University of Notre Dame Press in Indiana].
Below, I have included excerpts from The MacIntyre Reader, with comments on each from myself. I have interjected the concept: determinism -- for the more general, but inclusive, concept: relativism, as well as for some of the uses of the concept: morality. My interjections (regardless of subject matter) are in bold ... (Read more...)
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Rejection is Not The Answer
by Joseph Rowlands
One day I'm arguing with a scientist. She informs me that she's an agnostic when it comes to religion. I ask if she actually believes there's a god, and she says no. But she won't rule out the possibility that there is one. In fact, she offers, she won't rule out anything. She believes that a scientist's job requi... (Read more...)
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Human Certainty: The only kind there is.
by Ed Thompson
The kind of certainty discussed above in the example of Sally and Betty is philosophical certainty -- a certainty about the relations between things in a given context. It is this same kind of relational, contextual certainty that allows us to form contextually-absolute genus-species definitions about things. The other kind of certainty (mentioned just above), psychological certainty, is more appropriately called a pseudo-certainty because it refers more to a feeling or conviction than to any veridical cognition. The feeling/conviction which psychological certainty affords comes from credulity; being easily convinced that something is so. (Read more...)
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Walter Lippmann: chronicler of evil
by Michael E. Marotta
Both Hoover and Roosevelt enacted collectivist responses to the Great Depression. No one seriously advocated laissez faire -- or if anyone did, they were not taken seriously by serious people. So said Walter Lippmann. For admirers of Ayn Rand's works, Walter Lippmann is the epitome of what was right and wrong with liberalism. (Read more...)
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Ayn Rand in Argentina
by Manfred F. Schieder
Ayn Rand’s Objectivism continues to spread worldwide. This time it’s Argentina, in the southern part of the world, where the Spanish version of several of her books was presented at an international books trade fair. (Read more...)
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North Carolina Governor's School Experience
by Luke Setzer
The campus director informed the parents from the outset that it would be "best for their children" if they refrained from visiting for the first two weeks of the program. He asserted that early visits from family would disrupt the students' "adjustment" to campus life. He also sternly informed students that "if you have any kind of prejudice against others, check them at the gate. We will be too busy pursuing new and valuable ideas to have those kinds of barriers holding us back." It all seemed just a little ominous. (Read more...)
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How Do You Prove Photography To A Blind Man?
by Skeptico Blog
A believer in psychic phenomena poses a question to a skeptic: "How would you prove to a blind man that photography exists?" Here's the skeptic's reply, which didn't make the believer happy. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 21, 2007 |
Sanctity of Reason
by Joseph Rowlands
It's one thing to reject reason in favor of the mystical. People do that all the time. But they do more than simply reject reason. They pervert it. (Read more...)
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Socialist or Capitalist, What are You?
by Dean Michael Gores
Socialists: say producers must provide the bare necessities for Everyone (by forcing producers to give to others) Capitalists: say producers must have full control of their own products (and let less fortunate people die if no one is willing to help them using their own resources) Why do people choose... (Read more...)
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Electoral Rebuke
by Andre Zantonavitch
Thoughts on foreign policy and America's recent election. (Read more...)
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The Power of Moral Ideals
by Joseph Rowlands
A colleague of mine told me about a business trip he went on to a foreign country. When he got there, he found himself under the attention of an attractive young woman. She had surmised that he was a wealthy businessman from America, and was offering more than just a good conversation. Being the married man that he ... (Read more...)
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The Three Parties
by Andre Zantonavitch
Some thoughts on the important political parties, and America's upcoming November 8th, 2006 elections. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
November 1, 2006 |
Sacrificing Minds
by Joseph Rowlands
Occasionally I find myself in a conversation with someone who has a completely distorted and chaotic worldview. And when I say chaotic, I can't emphasize the word strongly enough. Their systems of belief are totally non-integrated, combining conspiracy theories, bad science, a malevolent view of mankind, and some of ... (Read more...)
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Wednesday
October 11, 2006 |
How to Deal with the Nuclear-Armed North Koreans
by Andre Zantonavitch
Some thoughts on what America and the West should do about the growing nuclear menace from North Korea. (Read more...)
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In Praise of Investing Money Gained from Tax Cuts
by G. Stolyarov II
Mr. Stolyarov refutes several fallacious objections to the scenario of tax cut recipients investing the money they gain. He addresses three of these objections using the principles of economics and rational self-interest to display the virtues of such an outcome. Indeed, no damage will result from investment of such money; quite the contrary, this practice will fuel economic growth in the United States and rising standards of living for Americans as well as other individuals worldwide. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
September 27, 2006 |
Death to the UN!
by Andre Zantonavitch
Some thoughts on the fundamental nature of the current United Nations. (Read more...)
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Objectivism and the Five Loves
by Luke Setzer
This submission delivers on my promise to post an article with this title. It also constitutes the eighth chapter of my book The Vision-Driven Life which I outlined on this site earlier this year. This particular selection continues the Objectivist examination of the rational basis of emotions and its ties to recent research. It discusses how one must deliberately embrace the Objectivist ethics in order to program his emotions most effectively for living in this world. (Read more...)
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Praise the Rich
by Michael E. Marotta
The rich pay more than their fair share of taxes. When they give to charity, they eclipse government contributions, Yet, we heap abuse on them, easily, and without fear of retribution. The reason why is specifically that they, too, have accepted the morality of altruism. They ought to reject it -- as should every honest person. (Read more...)
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Fighting Both Enemies to an Actual Victory
by Kyrel Zantonavitch
Some radical thoughts on the current war between Israel and Lebanon. (Read more...)
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Profit is Moral
by G. Stolyarov II
Mr. Stolyarov argues that the profit motive is one of the noblest forces that can impel a man to act. Profits are necessary for an individual to flourish and improve his own life. Mr. Stolyarov further refutes the idea that the pursuit of profit can ever harm other people; he shows how the profit motive always either benefits or at least does not harm others. (Read more...)
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A Letter to the American Association of Blood Banks
by Steven Thomas Druckenmiller
A small attempt, a cry in the dark, to try to have just one mind think about free markets and drop the altruistic attitude. (Read more...)
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The Abdication of Volition
by Michael F Dickey
On the Autodidactic list I am a member of I came across this article:
... (Read more...)
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