 Machan's Musings - Impossible Egalitarianism
by Tibor R. Machan
Egalitarianism is undesirable, which is often left unmentioned when the idea is discussed. Many have thought it would be so swell if it only could exist but it wouldn't. Everyone being the same, having the same, etc., etc., is a pitifully dismal vision of human-and the rest of-life.
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Machan's Musings - Bush’s Censorial Temptation
by Tibor R. Machan
Ladies and gentlemen, this is America and if Americans share a common trait, it is most likely rebellion at those who wield power over them too overtly. (Read more...)
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Saturday
December 10, 2005 |
Machan's Musings - The Mess Created by Nationalization
by Tibor R. Machan
It is not for nothing that the respect and protection of the institution of the right to private property is so vital to human liberty. Wherever it is compromised, your liberty is likely to vanish. (Read more...)
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Locke on Essence
by Merlin Jetton
John Locke's views on essence have much in common with those of Ayn Rand. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Rights, the Constitution, and the Ninth Amendment
by Tibor R. Machan
In our time the Ninth Amendment has been roundly neglected—some have dubbed it "the forgotten" Ninth Amendment as a result. (Read more...)
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The Spirits of Christmas: A New Look at "A Christmas Carol"
by Robert Davison (Wolf)
Those of an Objectivist or Libertarian bent usually vilify "A Christmas Carol", his best-known story, as an overly sentimental paean to altruism. But, there may be less to that theory than meets the eye. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Why Teaching Intelligent Design is Such a Problem
by Tibor R. Machan
Whenever a controversy arises in government funded and administered educational(?) institutions, no one in the mainstream media mentions the real source of the problem. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
December 7, 2005 |
Machan's Musings - Saddam Hussein Learned from Richard Rorty
by Tibor R. Machan
Mr. Hussein has learned his contemporary philosophical lessons—at least those of some of our most prominent philosophers—very well. He would easily get his PhD in the field. (Read more...)
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My Response to Academic Perfidy
by Marty Lewinter
The price of being an academic is eternal, around-the-clock vigilance, and clear, objective, reasoning that rises above nit-picky, tunnel vision, west-bashers. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Contra Campos
by Tibor R. Machan
Faith is, after all, a non-rational commitment and, except for just a few theologians, is understood as ascent to various beliefs without evidence and argument, indeed, even ascent against evidence and argument. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Disingenuous Care for Privacy Rights
by Tibor R. Machan
Another nomination hearing is about to unfold before us and we can count on some of the central themes based on previous hearings. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Back to More Business Bashing
by Tibor R. Machan
When so many influential people still believe that business ethics is an oxymoron, it's no wonder that journalists and even those in the business community begin to let the notion go unchallenged. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Europe Clings to Its Old Ways
by Tibor R. Machan
I do not wear a sign around my neck saying “I am a champion of human liberty.” Yet I often run into other frequent travelers on the road who share my concerns about the lack of appreciation for freedom around the globe. As I have traveled on the trains in many European countries, I have found myself in conversation with fellow train riders who, in time, would lament, just as I do, the inadequate support so many throughout Europe, even among the newly liberated folks, lend to the ideal of a truly free society. (Read more...)
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On the Origins of the Taking Syndrome
by A. Robert Malcom
The psychology of the two kinds of worldview, the trading and the taking, were and are quite different from each other. The taking syndrome was tribalistic; its members were raised to consider themselves as parts of groups, a valued quality when it comes to matters of organized theft. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Freedom vs. Freedom
by Tibor R. Machan
As I was driven to my hotel upon my arrival here in Santiago, I couldn’t miss all the promotional posters and billboards typical of election seasons in most Western democracies. I asked what, if any, issues are being debated in the current election here that suggest some care about liberty? The answer was that there is indeed a debate about the very nature of freedom. (Read more...)
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Saturday
November 26, 2005 |
Academia is so Open-Minded, Its Brains Fell Out!
by Marty Lewinter
My college is planning a year-long theme that has to do with Muslim culture. A professor (whom I call YYYY) posted an opinion implying that the problem (ignorance) lies with us. I responded. Another professor (XXXX) attacked me. Finally, I responded. It's a jungle out there! (Read more...)
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Valliant Versus the Brandens
by Fred Seddon
Let me begin with a “thank you” to Linz for recommending (highly) James S. Valliant’s book “The Passion of Ayn Rand’s Critics,” (PARC). And while I agree with most of what our fearless leader had to say (I liked the book so much I’ve ordered a copy as a Christmas present for a friend), I do have a few thoughts I want to state for the record. (Read more...)
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Thursday
November 24, 2005 |
The Corruption of Measurement
by Merlin Jetton
Measurement is a hallmark of science, reason and objectivity. It should be defended. It is too important to allow it to be corrupted by subjectivism. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
November 23, 2005 |
Machan's Musings - Nanocars and Other Nifty Feats
by Tibor R. Machan
Despite wishing to celebrate some of the technical feats achieved with extorted funds, I will not. Yes, I praise the scientists, the technological whizzes (I used to literally stroke my Volvo P1800 for being such a great engineering marvel). But given that they shouldn’t have had most of the funds that enabled them to achieve these feats, I decline the invitation to celebrate. (Read more...)
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Ayn Rand? Jealous?
by Robert L. Campbell
I strongly encourage everyone who wants to see Rand’s ideas treated fairly and objectively to read The Passion of Ayn Rand’s Critics. Not because Mr. Valliant’s assessment of Rand can be counted on to be fair and objective, but because Rand’s journal entries need to be consulted by anyone who wishes to make his or her own fair and objective assessment. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Back to the Animal Rights Folly
by Tibor R. Machan
As the author of a book on this subject, Putting Humans First, Why We Are Nature’s Favorite (2004)—which, surprise, surprise, was not reviewed in The New York Review of Books (even as they dutifully review Peter Singer and other animal liberation and rights promoters), I find it especially peculiar that the magazine’s chosen reviewer of Coetzee’s pro-animal rights work offers no criticism of the Nobel Prize winning novelist’s ideas. (Read more...)
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Mexican Immigrants and the "Objectivist" Center
by Adam Reed
That racist propaganda is widely tolerated among America's "Conservatives" and "Liberals" is scandal enough. That it is spread by the magazine of an "Objectivist" organization is beyond scandal. It is treason.
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Daily Linz 21 - Close Encounter of the Scary Kind
by Lindsay Perigo
With my sister Sally and her husband John—with whom I’ve been living since renting out my own apartment recently— away for the weekend, I would have the place to myself, free of distractions. As I emerged from my bedroom, I was momentarily disconcerted to see the lounge curtains drawn when I was sure I hadn’t drawn them. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Faith and Public Controversy
by Tibor R. Machan
One crucial reason that religiously based public policies have dubious merit is that their justification can’t be examined along lines available to us in virtue of our humanity alone. A human community, as opposed to a sectarian or religious one, can’t rest its institutions on what arises from faith—especially not if those institutions aim to be considered fairly and openly by all those who might be citizens. (Read more...)
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Hegel's Authoritarian State as the Divine Idea on Earth
by Edward W. Younkins
For Hegel, the State is the highest embodiment of the Divine Idea on earth and the chief means used by the Absolute in manifesting itself as it unfolds towards its perfect fulfillment. Hegel argued that the State is the highest form of social existence and the end product of the development of mankind, from family to civil society to lower forms of political groupings. (Read more...)
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