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Articles: Objectivism


Friday
March 10, 2006
Objectivism
The Evil Package-Deal
by Joseph Rowlands
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One of the bigger challenges to promoting or understanding a radically new philosophy is that so many words and concepts are tied to the traditional worldview.  Take the word 'evil'. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 22, 2006
Objectivism
The Philosophic Validation of Inductive Inference
by Ed Thompson
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This essay is meant to provide a background to the problem of induction, to critically analyze the solution to this problem (the philosophic validation of induction, as laid out by Matson), to offer another example analogy to show that the self-same reasoning holds, and to tie together the 2 essentials of proper induction – so that any potential argument can be evaluated against this new and refined standard for it. I will begin at the beginning -- by outlining the 2 possible senses of induction. (Read more...)
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Tuesday
February 7, 2006
Objectivism
The Evolution of the Objective
by Roger E. Bissell
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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
February 2, 2006
Objectivism
An Objectivist-Christian Dialogue
by Neil Parille
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There has not been, to the best of my knowledge, Christian-Objectivist dialogue.  I offer two areas in which dialogue would be fruitful in the narrow sense of helping to clarify opposing ideas.  (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 1, 2006
Objectivism
The "With-Measurement" Program
by Stephen Boydstun
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In our family, the young people have taught us the proper way to read your fortune cookie when we go for Chinese dinner. Each person is required to read their fortune aloud, followed by the words “in bed.” The added phrase puts the fortune in a whole new light. To the fortune “You will soon be sitting on top of the world,” you must add . . . (Read more...)
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Monday
January 30, 2006
Objectivism
Differences between Objectivist Politics and Libertarian Politics
by Joseph Rowlands
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Objectivists have sometimes argued that you can't accept the Objectivist politics without the philosophical base.  Certainly if you try, there should be significant differences due to the lack of grounding.  Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, it's become quite clear that there are in fact significant differences... (Read more...)
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Tuesday
January 17, 2006
Objectivism
Ayn Rand Society 2005 - Paper 3
by Stephen Boydstun
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Rand thought that Aristotle’s ethical system was merely a carving of accepted ideals. He failed to answer:  Do humans really need a code of values? What for? Is there a noncircular basis of the good? Rand said that Aristotle “based his ethical system on observations of what the noble and wise men of his time chose to do, leaving unanswered the questions of: why they chose to do it and why he evaluated them as noble and wise.” (Read more...)
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Monday
January 9, 2006
Objectivism
Ayn Rand Society 2005 - Paper 1
by Stephen Boydstun
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Professor Lennox first presented Rand’s views on axiomatic concepts, then Aristotle’s view on axioms and their validation. He then briefly compared their views in this area. (Read more...)
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Thursday
January 5, 2006
Objectivism
The Ethics and Methodology of Capitalism
by Neil Parille
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A review of Edward Younkins' Philosophers of Capitalism: Mises, Menger, Rand, and Beyond (Read more...)
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Wednesday
December 21, 2005
Objectivism
Thoughts for the Neophyte Objectivist
by Ethan A. Dawe
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      One of the great things about learning Objectivism is the clarity it can give you when looking at life and the world around you. Each day we are bombarded by issues and concerns in all forms of media and in our interactions with others. Pundits, experts, friends, and co-workers alike talk on and on about what’s w... (Read more...)
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Saturday
December 10, 2005
Objectivism
Binswanger's Appreciation of ANTHEM
by Fred Seddon
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In an Epilogue to ESSAYS ON AYN RAND'S ANTHEM, (for which I am writing a glowing review) Harry Binswanger writes an “Appreciation” of ANTHEM in which he tells the story of a student asking whether Rand wrote ANTHEM as an answer to Plato’s “Myth of the Cave” from The REPUBLIC. While he suspected that Rand did not have P... (Read more...)
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Friday
December 2, 2005
Objectivism
Ayn Rand: Philosopher of Unity and Integration
by Edward W. Younkins
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Ayn Rand (1905-1982), the controversial American novelist and philosopher, has done more than anyone else in history to develop a moral case for capitalism. (Read more...)
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Saturday
November 26, 2005
Objectivism
Vegetative Robots and Value
by Stephen Boydstun
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Thought experiments are notorious for pre-packing the point to be demonstrated into the setup to be contemplated. In an essay in The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand (1984), Charles King raised just that sort of objection to Rand’s robot gedanken: "if the robot neither knows nor cares [what happens to things around it], the example seems uninteresting." I do not agree that the robot gedanken is without interest if the robot is devoid of thought and feeling. I will here extend Rand’s gedanken in such a way that it can inform the concept of purely vegetative value. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
November 23, 2005
Objectivism
Why Limit Government?
by Marty Lewinter
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There is only one way to safeguard rights: limit the power of the statethat is, limit the power of the group over the individual. (Read more...)
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Thursday
October 27, 2005
Objectivism
Ayn Rand at the West Virginia Philosophical Society
by Fred Seddon
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The West Virginia Philosophical Society met on Oct. 21-22 and celebrated, in part, the hundredth anniversary of her birth. Six of the twelve speakers, including the keynote speaker, addressed topics on Rand. (Read more...)
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Tuesday
October 25, 2005
Objectivism
Daily Linz 15 - This Cheek's Not For Turning
by Lindsay Perigo
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Michael wants to do his bit in ushering in the age of the soft-sell and bringing an end to religion-“bashing.” Well, if he were advocating clarity without dogmatism, KASS without hysteria, reasonableness without appeasement, I would agree with him. But as far as I can tell, he’s pitching for an Objectivism that is New-Aged to the point where it is not only unrecognisable as Objectivism, but is antithetical to it. (Read more...)
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Sunday
October 23, 2005
Objectivism
To Turn or Not to Turn - A Question of Cheek
by Michael Stuart Kelly
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Are religious principles like turning the other cheek really anti-Objectivism? There goes that little child inside me again. He tells me that Ayn Rand’s heroes turned the other cheek all the time in her fiction. (Read more...)
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Friday
October 14, 2005
Objectivism
Values are Not Universal
by Craig Haynie
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Any attempt to universalize value precludes any possibility of real value, because such attempts separate value from the valuer. All values are personal. And that's a fact. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
October 12, 2005
Objectivism
The Backbone of Benevolence
by Andy Postema
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Objectivism gives benevolence a backbone that has little to do with being nice and everything to do with being rational in an irrational age. (Read more...)
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Tuesday
October 11, 2005
Objectivism
Daily Linz 7 - Sense of Strife Objectivists?
by Lindsay Perigo
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I hope that SOLO will continue to be a repository of open debate among the factions, without ceasing to be a scourge of such evils as postmodernism, relativism, Political Correctness, the Cult of Uncertainty and all the rest of the ghastly contemporary sewer whose pusball representatives I finally flamed here recently. I hope that it will continue to accommodate dissent without blunting its polemical edge, the KASS factor. I hope that its vision, set forth in the Credo, will survive and prosper from all the tumult and the shouting. I hope that the end result will be a noisy world full of Objectivists, all talking animatedly to each other whatever their disagreements! (Read more...)
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Monday
September 26, 2005
Objectivism
The Passion of the Critics of Ayn Rand's Critics
by Lindsay Perigo
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I was one of those who resolved not to read James Valliant’s book, The Passion of Ayn Rand’s Critics, openly touted as “The case against the Brandens.” Still, I got talked into reading it in a thread right here on SOLOHQ. And I’m glad I did. (Read more...)
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Monday
September 19, 2005
Objectivism
Understanding Addiction -- One Objectivist's View
by Michael Stuart Kelly
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The universal aspect of all addictions is that the sense of identity has been contaminated and the faculty of volition has atrophied. In the case of drugs and alcohol, there is a chemically induced craving. These are the parts of the mind and body that need to get better. Then the rest will follow. (Read more...)
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Tuesday
September 6, 2005
ObjectivismThe Free Radical
All or Nothing: Philosophy with Degrees (Part 3) - Objectivism's Solution
by Joseph Rowlands
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How prevalent is the all or nothing approach? Keep your eyes open and you'll see plenty of examples. But the important point to take away is that degrees really matter. They may require more thinking. They may be more difficult to explain or to utilize. But they're a basic part of comprehension and you can't avoid them without sinking into blind ignorance. (Read more...)
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Saturday
September 3, 2005
ObjectivismThe Free Radical
All or Nothing: Philosophy with Degrees (Part 2) - General Reasons
by Joseph Rowlands
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The all or nothing view, whether caused by rationalism, intrinsicism, or just mental sloppiness, cannot see important relationships, or maybe just doesn't care. It's not concerned with degrees, and can't deal with them. It draws very clear boundaries, and you have easy, definitive uses. It doesn't matter how close you are to the boundaries, the results are the same. (Read more...)
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Friday
September 2, 2005
Objectivism
What Would Ayn Rand Say?
by Fred Seddon
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Since 1911, Sweden has been the paradigm of the welfare state. Given Rand’s pro-capitalist anti-welfare state philosophy, it isn’t too difficult to imagine what she would say to Sweden. Start decontrolling. (Read more...)
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