 Pro-Lifers Guilty of Mass Murder!
by Roger E. Bissell
The Rhythm Method of contraception causes more embryonic deaths than birth control and morning after pills -- rivalling even the number of deaths due to abortion -- so Right to Lifers are in no position to criticize the morality of other people's methods of contraception. (Read more...)
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 The Evolution of the Objective
by Roger E. Bissell
The central concept of, and the name Ayn Rand chose for, her philosophy of Objectivism has unfortunately been the subject of considerable debate and confusion. Rand's views on objectivity and the objective have gone through a definite process of evolution, but not all of the modifications or extensions appear to have been for the better. This essay sorts out Rand's various formulations of these concepts, including her now-abandoned term "objective reality" and her famous "intrinsic-objective-subjective" trichotomy, and relates them to the traditional false dichotomy of objective-subjective, which was inspired by Kant's twist on the original Scholastic concept of the "objective," pointing out how Rand's and Peikoff's and others' thinking on the objective has gone astray, and where a properly redirected focus might lead us. (Read more...)
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Thursday
November 17, 2005 |
 What's Wrong with Bebop? Reflections on Ayn Rand and Jazz
by Roger E. Bissell
An objective analysis of the value of music in general, and on bebop jazz in particular, focuses primarily on the presence and quality of memorable melody. For that reason, bebop jazz, while not without redeeming virtues, is of lesser rational value than, say, Dixieland jazz. Avant-garde jazz, however, like avant-garde music in general, is beyond the pale! (Read more...)
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 Primacy of Consciousness Redux: A Review of Overman's A Case Against Accident and Self-Organization
by Roger E. Bissell
Dean Overman is the author of yet another attempt to argue that, without some ruling consciousness, there is no logic, no morality, no life, no universe, nothing at all. The antidote? A healthy dose of the metaphysics and logic based on the Primacy of Existence. (Read more...)
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 Beyond Survival and Flourishing
by Roger E. Bissell
For some time now, I have been observing the gradual emergence of a three-tiered model of life-centered ethics—survival, flourishing, and generativity. Aristotle said that every living being—plants, animals, people—has three essential components of a full life: metabolism (survival), growth (flourishing), and extending oneself outside one's self (generativity). Objectivists often get hung up debating survival vs. flourishing, when it's obvious that it's both, plus generativity. I don't see how a full, healthy life can exist without all three. (Read more...)
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Nuking the Family
by Roger E. Bissell
The ills of the family and of several generations of children are due to systemic, structural conditions that reward irresponsibility and reinforce the philosophy that supports such irresponsibility. (Read more...)
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 Why I Like Genealogy - A Plagiaristic Parody of Ayn Rand's Essay on Stamp Collecting
by Roger E. Bissell
I am often asked why people like genealogy. So widespread a hobby can obviously have many different motives. I can answer only in regard to my own motives, which I have observed also in some of the genealogists I have met. The pleasure lies in a certain special way of using one's mind. (Read more...)
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Objectivism and Determinism
by Roger E. Bissell
What is implied by basic Objectivist metaphysical premises is “self-determinism,” the view that one’s actions (including the act of focusing one’s awareness) are determined by one's values/desires/ideas. For short, I call it “value-determinism.” And although it does not qualify as “free will” in the sense of “could have done otherwise,” that is not valid, anyway. But it does qualify as “free will” in the sense of one’s being the originator of that action, absent environmental duress and physical or medical impairment. (Read more...)
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Religious Addiction
by Roger E. Bissell
One kind of misuse of philosophy and religion is "religious addiction," a sickness comparable to drug and alcohol abuse. (Read more...)
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 Be Your Own Hero
by Roger E. Bissell
True hero-worship requires not only receptivity and trust in one's hero, but also a healthy level of self-esteem and heroism in oneself. (Read more...)
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