Saturday
September 5, 2015 |
 Dead End in Understanding
by Joseph Rowlands
One of the major problems with explaining anything by attributing it to a god is that it permanently severs the need to look deeper. If thunder and lightning are the products of an angry god, then you never need to look for natural causes. You have an 'answer' that tells you nothing, and suggests that any more detail i... (Read more...)
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The Social Metaphysics of Facebook
by Kevin Graham
A Canadian value investment analyst employs Nathaniel Branden's theory of social metaphysics to examine the Facebook phenomenon. (Read more...)
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Machan's Archives: Peddling the Corruption of Liberty
by Tibor R. Machan
Ever since the idea of individual liberty has achieved some measure of credibility over the world, those who would be unseated by its limited triumph had to find some way to discredit it or trump it somehow. One way was to re-christen servitude, to make it appear like an even more important kind of liberty than... (Read more...)
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Individualism in the Right Key
by Tibor R. Machan
Individualism is the view, put briefly, that human beings are identifiable as a distinct species in the natural world and have as at least one of their central attributes the capacity to be unique rational individuals. (Read more...)
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A Problem with False Dichotomies
by Joseph Rowlands
A common source of problems in philosophy is when two things are connected, but the connection is not obvious. What often happens is that some people accept one without the other, and other people accept the reverse. Each picks a side and sticks with it when they can't figure out how to have both. This is a source of f... (Read more...)
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 The final face-up
by Manfred F. Schieder
Ours is the time of the final face-up, for after the extended time from when our species separated from our irrational ancestors to where civilization was built, we are now facing religious as well as secular groups determined to move mankind away from civilization and back to an era of pre-language, as Ayn Rand stated in her opus magnun "Atlas Shrugged". (Read more...)
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What you "Owe to Society"
by Tibor R. Machan
Sadly this is an ancient thesis that's being revived now in a country that was founded on denying it. The idea is well expressed in a recent book by Professor William E. Hudson, titled, The Libertarian Illusion: Ideology, Public Policy, and the Assault on the Common Good (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2008). Hudson states,... (Read more...)
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Multiple Moralities
by Joseph Rowlands
I have received criticism from some Objectivists about the approach I took in writing my book Morality Needs No God. There is a key decision that needs to made in approaching this subject. Do you take the view that there are many different kinds of moral systems, or do you claim that there is only one 'real' morality a... (Read more...)
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 A Solution to the Greek Credit Crisis
by Paul Hibbert
The current economic crisis in Greece requires a totally new, radical approach that allows the Greek people to reinvent themselves and restore their dignity. The proposal separates the economy from the legitimate functions of government so that manipulation of the currency for political and social engineering ends is no longer possible. (Read more...)
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Free to be Moral
by Joseph Rowlands
It is common for advocates of freedom to point out that you can't really be moral unless you have the freedom to act on your own judgments. If you are forced to act in a particular way, like forced to give a part of your wealth to charity, you aren't really acting morally. You are submitting to force. It is the wielder... (Read more...)
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Fourth of July and the Public Interest
by Tibor R. Machan
Throughout history political thinkers have been concerned a great deal withthe public good (or public interest, common good, general welfare, etc.).Usually they came up with massive plans or enchanting visions. Plato’steacher, Socrates, initiated this tradition, with his imaginary totalitariansociety, the Republi... (Read more...)
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Philosophy as Doubt
by Joseph Rowlands
What is the purpose of philosophy? Many people will say that it teaches you to question everything. Are your senses reliable? Are we capable of understanding the world as it really is? Do we actually make choices and direct our own thinking, or are we mere automatons reacting mechanically to inputs?
... (Read more...)
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Taking it Further
by Joseph Rowlands
Recently I've read some books about successful mathematicians and scientists. There's one pattern that has emerged that strikes me as both useful and inspiring. Each of these successful people didn't stop at a single successful achievement. They followed up on it, trying to find out if there was more they could learn f... (Read more...)
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 Are You an Emotional Vampire?
by Mark Manson
Emotional vampires exhibit three specific traits simultaneously: an excessive need for validation/attention from others, the belief that little to nothing that occurs is their fault, and the lack of self-awareness to recognize their self-defeating patterns. People who are familiar with Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden will recognize that these are three of the six pillars — or rather, a lack of three of the pillars. (Read more...)
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Hierarchy and Honesty
by Joseph Rowlands
One interpretation of the hierarchical theory of knowledge suggests that you arrive at the principle of honesty through more fundamental ideas. It might include life as the standard of morality, man's need for principles, and rationality as the primary virtue. From there, you can see honesty as a kind of clarification ... (Read more...)
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The Mechanics of Moral Judgment
by Joseph Rowlands
In my view of morality, principles have a different role than they are normally assumed to have. Instead of being methods of judging whether an action is good or bad, they are methods of forecasting the consequences. Moral principles are identifications of causal relationships, and they are used to identify the likely ... (Read more...)
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Filling in the Gaps
by Joseph Rowlands
One of the problems with bad philosophical standards is that it leaves you without guidance in areas that aren't covered. You end up filling in the gaps, but in ways that are often the opposite of the original standards.
... (Read more...)
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Unpredictable
by Joseph Rowlands
One of the key insights in Austrian Economics is that economic consequences are really unpredictable. This isn't to say that the science hasn't made enough progress to make accurate predictions. It isn't even saying that the predictions must be qualitative in nature as there are no fixed mathematical relationships in p... (Read more...)
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Boundaries of Moral Policies
by Joseph Rowlands
Objectivists often think of moral principles as a kind of policy telling you how to behave. I think this is problematic. One of the biggest issues is how these moral policies deal with scenarios where they aren't in your rational self-interest.
... (Read more...)
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Moral Agents and Responsibility
by Joseph Rowlands
Sometimes in morality, the blame is shifted from one party to another. There are different reasons for this. One justification for this is when someone is coerced. The initiation of force by a second person interferes with the victims ability to act on his own judgment. The initiator of force overrides the judgment of ... (Read more...)
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Pondering Hierarchical Knowledge
by Joseph Rowlands
In many ways, a theory that knowledge is hierarchical is obviously true. But what exactly does it mean? There are multiple ways in which we could talk about knowledge being hierarchical, and they don't really fit together.
... (Read more...)
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Personal and Political Altruism
by Joseph Rowlands
For those who accept some kind of altruistic morality, there are two radically different ways of putting that morality into practice. One treats altruism as a personal morality, requiring the individual to live his life in the service of others. The other treats altruism as something best pursued in the political arena... (Read more...)
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 There are no gods
by Manfred F. Schieder
An Objectivist's proof of the nonexistence of any kind of god. (Read more...)
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Shifting Moral Responsibility
by Joseph Rowlands
When discussing moral judgment, there is some confusion over the nature of causality and moral responsibility. If someone points a gun at you and demands that you steal from someone else, are you to blame if you comply? Did the gunman cause you to do it? Who is responsible?
... (Read more...)
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The Role of Principles in Judgment
by Joseph Rowlands
What role do principles play in the act of moral judgment? This is a significant issue and one of the places where I seem to break from the traditional Objectivist view.
... (Read more...)
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