 Harm and Coercion
by Joseph Rowlands
Discussions of initiations of force are often a little vague in the details. For instance, it is common to regard any use of force as a kind of coercion. This makes some sense as any use of force is a violation of the victim's consent. You are forcing an interaction on them that they wouldn't otherwise choose. But ther... (Read more...)
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A Chronic Liar
by Joseph Rowlands
A friend once told me about a girl who had lied to him. Lying was bad enough, but there was no point to it. The lie had no purpose. When he found out about the one lie, he started checking some of the other things she had told him, and eventually found that she had lied about almost everything. And all of it was equall... (Read more...)
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How Useful is your Knowledge?
by Joseph Rowlands
When you study a topic in school, how useful is it? Is it something you will end up using? Is it ever relevant? Is it even easy to tell?
... (Read more...)
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Business and Government
by Joseph Rowlands
It's common among the political left to despise and fear large businesses. For a variety of reasons, they believe that to be successful in business, you have to take advantage of others. They think that businesses get special favors and treatment by the government, and that's why they are successful.
... (Read more...)
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Objectivism Mind-Body Dichotomy
by Joseph Rowlands
Let me start by saying that I don't believe that Objectivism, properly understood, has a mind-body dichotomy. In fact, it goes to great lengths to identify the false dichotomy and to make sure to avoid it. But while the theory may avoid it, there is always room for problems in practice.
... (Read more...)
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Justice Virtue and Value
by Joseph Rowlands
Justice is often difficult to achieve. If someone betrays you, you probably won't have the opportunity to punish them for the act. Without the ability to use force, interactions between people must be voluntary. And if someone betrayed you, they will be unlikely to provide you the opportunity to return the favor. While... (Read more...)
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Different Kinds of Threats
by Joseph Rowlands
The word 'threat' gets used in a lot of different ways which can often obscure facts. This is particularly true when it comes to foreign affairs. If a country declares their intent to destroy another country, you might think this is a clear example of a threat. But many people will ignore these declarations and determi... (Read more...)
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Wednesday
January 22, 2014 |
On Principle
by Joseph Rowlands
It's common for people to perform an action while saying they are doing it "on principle". You might refuse to do business with a relative "on principle". You might pay off your own loans in a timely matter "on principle". You might refuse to deal with someone who has betrayed you "on principle". There are countles... (Read more...)
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States of Consciousness
by Joseph Rowlands
I had lunch with a guy who decided to convince me that meditation could lead your mind to achieve a new state of consciousness. Knowing a bit about my philosophical views, he expected some serious resistance to the idea. But instead of arguing, I accepted the possibility that it could happen. And then I explained wh... (Read more...)
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Moral Perfection
by Joseph Rowlands
One interesting question in the field of morality is whether you can be morally perfect or not. Is it even possible? Is it so hard that you shouldn't expect to achieve it? Is it a worthwhile goal? Is someone's moral imperfections a reason to damn them, or something that should be expected and tolerated? The ... (Read more...)
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Saturday
December 14, 2013 |
 A Priori Knowledge
by Joseph Rowlands
I'm reading a book about the methodology of Austrian Economics, and it discusses the foundational premises as a kind of a priori knowledge. In this context, it is not intended to mean that we are born with this knowledge or that it is self-evident in the literal sense. It isn't automatic knowledge. It is still the p... (Read more...)
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Big Moral Stakes
by Joseph Rowlands
There are many people who believe that a cost/benefit analysis is not appropriate for certain moral choices. There is a fear that if an option were viewed in that way, it would lead to behaviors that are widely viewed as immoral. Instead, they desire a kind of moral rule that prevents any weighing of options and dema... (Read more...)
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Thursday
November 21, 2013 |
Morality as a Given
by Joseph Rowlands
One problem that is all too common is for people to try to explain morality while taking the contents of it for granted. The issue comes up frequently in atheist circles because they don't accept the traditional view of morality as something created by God and learned from religious texts. So they try to come up with... (Read more...)
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Religious Spillover
by Joseph Rowlands
Talking to a religious friend one day, he asked me what was the harm in believing in God. He presented a view of religious that was compartmentalized from the rest of your life. Sure, you believe in a god that created the universe and decides what kind of afterlife you'll live, but it doesn't have to dominate your li... (Read more...)
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Moral Introspection
by Joseph Rowlands
One of the common ways of exploring the subject of morality is to posit a scenario that has fixed available options, and asking which of the options is morally preferable. Usually the scenarios include some horrific choice. One popular one is if you could kill one person and harvest his organs to save the lives of 5 ... (Read more...)
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Disembodied Justice
by Joseph Rowlands
A number of years ago I participated in a debate on the morality of the death penalty. The topic is complex and I don't intend to address it here, but there was one idea that came up repeatedly. It was the idea that punishment should be based on what a person deserves, and not in any way modified by what we know or h... (Read more...)
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Wednesday
September 25, 2013 |
Confusing Terms: Rights
by Joseph Rowlands
In politics, one of the most important ideas is the concept of 'rights'. And yet, it is also a source of enormous confusion. There are a number of reasons why it can get in the way of clarity. I'll start with the one I think is most significant. The concept of rights is used in the form of something you posse... (Read more...)
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 Confusing Terms: Moral and Immoral
by Joseph Rowlands
I've noticed over the years that when discussing certain topics, some words don't help. They actually get in the way of a clear understanding. The use of "moral" and "immoral" are two examples that create massive confusion. One of the sources of this confusion is that "moral" and "immoral" are conclusions to a... (Read more...)
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Maternal Martyrs
by Joseph Rowlands
There's been a number of times where a friend told me about a strained relationship with his or her parents. The similarities are interesting, and it points to a common philosophical perspective. What happens is the mothers talk to my friends as if they hate them. They talk about how much they had to sacrifice... (Read more...)
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Minimizing Knowledge
by Joseph Rowlands
A well-known question among children is when will they ever need to know algebra. Why study the subject unless they're going to do math for a living? One of the students in my school actually asked the teacher that question, and the teacher replied that you won't actually ever need algebra, but you have to learn it a... (Read more...)
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Problems with Instrumentalism
by Joseph Rowlands
Instrumentalism is a idea in the philosophy of science that says a scientific theory should be evaluated on how well it allows predictions. This is in contrast to other views, including that a theory should be judged based on how accurately it describes reality. As long as the theory provides a basis for making accur... (Read more...)
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Accusations of Pragmatism
by Joseph Rowlands
When someone brings up the costs and benefits of making a choice with moral implications, it is common to have some people make the accusation of pragmatism. The thought seems to be that the act of considering costs and benefit means that they are not being guided by moral principles and are just doing what's practica... (Read more...)
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Cost-Benefit Analysis
by Joseph Rowlands
When it comes to certain moral choices, the thought of someone doing a cost-benefit analysis is horrifying to many people. Take an example of the choice to murder someone or not. The conventional thinking is that this shouldn't even be an option, and morality is best when it demands that this be taken off the table. ... (Read more...)
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Learning versus Formulating Concepts
by Joseph Rowlands
Ayn Rand described the process of concept formation in her book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. The process focuses on how concepts are originally formed. It involves finding similarities between units, differentiating them from other things, integrating them through measurement omission, providing a name f... (Read more...)
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Productiveness Revisited
by Joseph Rowlands
The Objectivist view of productiveness focuses on a specific kind of productiveness. It aims at productive work. Rand described productive work as "the central purpose of a rational man's life, the central value that integrates and determines the hierarchy of all his other values" [italics in original, The Virtue of ... (Read more...)
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