 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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A Precis on Public Finance
by Tibor R. Machan
In a free country public finance pertains to how the proper tasks of government must be funded. (Read more...)
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Liberty's Tipping Points
by Steve Wolfer
Shouldn't we be asking about the tipping points involved in going from a semi-free nation to a mostly dictatorial nation? Are there cultural or political traits we can keep an eye on? What are the mechanisms involved in this change? I think this is an area needing more attention. (Read more...)
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Metaethical Foibles at Work
by Tibor R. Machan
The quality of political discourse has indeed been deteriorating big time. Ad hominems are now the rule, not the exception. It is distressing that substantive criticism of the ideas and policy recommendations of the two major parties has nearly vanished. Even though put downs and quips are often clever, it would be so ... (Read more...)
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The Common Core Controversry
by Michael E. Marotta
Common Core is not a Federal mandate to make children stupid against the desires of their parents. Common Core was designed according to best practices to provide the best opportunities for all children in school to acquire the basic learning they will need in life. (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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Once Again, Freedom is at Fault
by Tibor R. Machan
"The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance." (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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Some Pros and Cons of a Syrian Attack
by Tibor R. Machan
Why should one powerful nation attack another that is following intolerable policies -- e.g., gas its own citizens? Some argue that this is because when others act violently toward innocent people, those who can prevent this from happening have an obligation to step in and help out. We are, as Mr. Obama put it not long ago, “all in the same boat!” (Read more...)
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Involuntary Servitude
by Tibor R. Machan
It is especially difficult to suppress my outrage at the fact that some of my colleagues in political philosophy hold views that literally consign my grandchildren into involuntary servitude without paying any heed to their own choices in the matter. (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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Shopping in communism versus capitalism
by Tibor R. Machan
In a narrative portion of his latest (and characteristically riveting) novel the author has written the following sentence that prompts me to wag my finger at him a bit. “Now it was a Western-style shopping mall stuffed with all the useless trinkets capitalism had to offer...” Daniel Silva, The English Girl (2013). (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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Too Many Un-American Americans
by Tibor R. Machan
Let us remember a simple yet revolutionary idea associated with America, indeed one that has made the country exceptional among all major and minor political associations. This is the basic, natural right to individual liberty! (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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Without a proper plan
by Tibor R. Machan
The realm of the private is far broader in a free society than most people realize, so private choices and preferences have a greater scope. Which can be a very benign influence over the society as well as introduce some not very admirable ones. This, however, is the implication of taking the right to liberty really seriously instead of cherry picking liberties that one likes and are uncontroversial. (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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Machan's Archives - Fourth of July Reflections
by Tibor R. Machan
For some people the Fourth of July is the most important holiday in America. Sadly, not for all, especially not just now when most of the leadership of the country has made it clear that principles do not matter. What matters is what is expedient or practical, which is something very unstable. (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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The Evil of Prior Restraint
by Tibor R. Machan
NSA’s excuse for snooping on innocent citizens -- namely, that it can prevent serious harm to us, might even save lives -- is spurious. If you incarcerated us all, that, too, might do all that. (Read more...)
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My Pleasures, My Vices
by Tibor R. Machan
I am not in the habit of airing my dirty laundry, so this will be a rare case. I feel the urge to confess that I have some guilty pleasures, ones that actually have political implications. (Read more...)
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Does New Knowledge Invalidate Old Knowledge?
by Joseph Rowlands
One of the more interesting epistemological arguments made by Objectivists is that new knowledge does not invalidate old knowledge. When you learn that a chair is made of individual atoms, it does not negate your previous knowledge about the chair. You would still understand that it is furniture, designed for people ... (Read more...)
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Causation in a Complex System
by Joseph Rowlands
What is the right way to analyze a complex system? A complex system can have many variables with complex interactions, leading to complex effects that have many different attributes. Some examples of complex systems are economies, biological systems, climate, and child development. Each has an enormous number of fac... (Read more...)
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Back to Basics Please
by Tibor R. Machan
The idea that occurs to me when confronted with the mess is that those who have even the mildest concern for rhyme and reason should press the Obama people on one central topic: Do the rights of individuals concern this government in the slightest? (Read more...)
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