 Thomas Aquinas and Michael Novak: Two of a Kind
by Lindsey M. Peters
Thomas Aquinas is one of the most acclaimed philosophers and theologians of all time. His writings are concise and well-reasoned as he elaborates on Aristotle’s teachings. Michael Novak who incorporates both Aristotle and Aquinas into his teachings is arguably one of the best modern philosophers who persuasively reaso... (Read more...)
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Hobbes and Locke: A Confused Capitalist and His "Counterpoint"
by Darick J. Biondi
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 Working on the Fringes: How to Create Effective Political, Cultural, and Intellectual Change
by G. Stolyarov II
Mr. Stolyarov advocates an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary approach to changing the political and cultural status quo; he suggests that friends of liberty and reason try to focus on the fringe issues which few people in the mainstream notice, rather than on contentious core issues where any forward movement will be thwarted by dominant orthodoxies and counter-orthodoxies. (Read more...)
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Aristotle and Ayn Rand: Ancient Eudaimonia as Success versus Modern Eudaimonia as Survival
by Yvette A. Michaud
“My philosophy in essence is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity and reason as his only absolute.”
... (Read more...)
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The Enron Case in Focus
by Tibor R. Machan
After the jury came back with a guilty verdict against the two major players in the massive Enron fraud case, Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, there could have been cheers going up around the country concerning how well justice is pursued in a relatively free market, capitalist society. For that is one of the major lessons here. (Read more...)
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Lao Tzu's Naturalistic Metaphysics, Ethics, and Politics
by Edward W. Younkins
Lao Tzu (Laozi), an older contemporary of Confucius, lived in the 6th century B.C., and is thought to be the founder of Taoism. The conjectured years of his life are 604-531 B.C. The legendary Taoist philosopher, whose name can be translated as the “Old Master,” wrote a manual of self-cultivation and governmen... (Read more...)
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 Objectivism 101
by Joseph Rowlands
Today I announced the birth of a new website, Objectivism101. It's an educational site dedicated to explaining Objectivism at multiple levels. You can find it at Objectivism101.com. (Read more...)
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Herbert Spencer on Liberty and Human Progress
by Edward W. Younkins
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), British philosopher and sociologist, was a prominent, late 19th century defender of individual freedom and critic of state violence and coercion. A Lamarckian, rather than a Darwinian, pioneer in evolutionary theory, Spencer believed in inevitable human progress that develops naturally when... (Read more...)
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Table of Contents for The Vision-Driven Life
by Luke Setzer
Imagine a fully rational alternative to Rick Warren's religious screed The Purpose-Driven® Life. Visualize a book that takes its overall structure from the ethics of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Envision using the suggested reading list of the Ayn Rand Institute -- 25 items -- as a subject of study for each chapter of such a book. See each chapter broken into seven days of brief insights, gems of advice, and thought-provoking assignments drawing on Ayn Rand and many other sage authors from a wide range of fields. Picture in your mind's eye how the conscientious completion of such a book would yield a life blueprint and how such a blueprint could chart a course for your life. (Read more...)
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Why Philosophy Matters
by Tibor R. Machan
So you think this column is motivated by my vested interest in having philosophy taken seriously? OK, that’s part of it. But then so what? Some things are in my interest and this alone would suffice to justify championing them. In this case there is also the fact that all of us have a stake in the issue at hand. (Read more...)
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Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard: Can't We All Just Get Along?
by Shawn M. Stottlemyer
Many scholars who recognize that the Austrian School of Economics and the Philosophy of Objectivism have so many great things in common with one another have begun to build bridges between the two schools of thought. The similarities arise in their preferred outcomes of little or no government and the best way for society to operate economically and socially. Laissez-faire economics provides the best and only moral way for individual human beings to flourish in society. (Read more...)
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The Harms of Drugs versus the Harms of the War on Drugs
by G. Stolyarov II
Mr. Stolyarov has no sympathy for drug addicts; he morally disapproves of their behavior. However, the drug addicts would harm only themselves and willing associates were it not for the coercive illegalization of drugs. This essay argues the case of all those innocent, moral, productive individuals who are harmed by the government-waged War on Drugs. Compared to the damage the War on Drugs inflicts on good people, the harms from drug-taking itself are minimal. (Read more...)
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From Vision through Values to Mission
by Luke Setzer
My previous articles about developing a global Objectivist club network have focused on "learning lessons" from various proven companies and clubs ranging from BB&T to Toastmasters. Given those lessons learned, what would an overall blueprint for the proposed Objectivist network resemble? To answer that question requires identifying the actual components of a good blueprint followed by an outline of the particulars that concretize those abstract components for this network. (Read more...)
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Two Paths to Freedom
by Brandon W. Holmes
Of the economists who defend the free market, there are two main schools. One is the Austrian school and the other is the Chicago school. These schools use very different methodology and comprise two distinct paths to liberty and freedom. (Read more...)
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Michael Novak and Edward Younkins: Economic Personalism and Flourishing Indivdualism
by Retta Jane Rico
Dr. Edward W. Younkins and Michael Novak are both well educated in philosophy and economics. They seem to have similar conclusions, but adopt different methods or premises to reach a free society. The biggest of these differences would lie in whether or not faith should be foundational to our political and econo... (Read more...)
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What’s a Self-Made Individual?
by Tibor R. Machan
Whenever erudite critics of America’s social and political philosophy wish to make fun of it all, they mention the "self-made individual" (or, in older terminology, "man"). Recently one such critic recalled some quip that said, "How many people does it take to make a self-made man?" The point being, self-made individuals do not exist at all, everyone, in fact, develops by relying on innumerable others. (Read more...)
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Why Public Utility Monopolies Fail
by G. Stolyarov II
Mr. Stolyarov uses Friedrich Hayek's insights on the dynamic, discovery-oriented nature of the market process to show why "public" utility monopolies—which inherently inhibit such a process—are bound to experience waste, inefficiency, and failure unless privatized. (Read more...)
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 Philosophy's Vertical Time-line: Absence of Paradigm-shift
by Ed Thompson
Science is often said to have undergone 'paradigm shifts.' A telling example would be the shift from the Ptolemaic (geocentric) view of the cosmos to the Copernicus-discovered, Galileo-confirmed, heliocentric model. The question can be asked whether philosophy has undergone -- or is even capable of undergoing -- such a paradigm shift. This essay seeks to answer that question. (Read more...)
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Reality, Sensation, Reason, and Knowledge
by Andre Zantonavitch
How comprehensible is the universe, how reliable is our understanding of it, and how do we know what we know? Some non-technical speculations on epistemology. (Read more...)
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 Ayn Rand Society - 2006
by Stephen Boydstun
The topic of the Ayn Rand Society this year will be Tara Smith's new book Ayn Rand' Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist. This work was published this year by Cambridge University Press. The ARS meeting will be held in conjunction with the APA Eastern Division meetings in Washington DC, at the Marriott Wardman Hote... (Read more...)
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Do "liberals" Care for Liberty?
by Tibor R. Machan
I assume most of those who read this column have heard modern liberals proclaim their the deep concern civil liberties and due process. Among them many tell us they are upset about how President George W. Bush and most of those on his team are willing to sacrifice these so as to carry on with "the war on terror." (Read more...)
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A Review of Edward W. Younkins's Philosophers of Capitalism
by G. Stolyarov II
Mr. Stolyarov reviews a new anthology edited by Dr. Edward W. Younkins-- a renowned contemporary scholar of Objectivism and Austrian Economics. Mr. Stolyarov applauds Dr. Younkins's effort at creating a powerful libertarian synthesis by integrating the best elements of those two schools of thought. (Read more...)
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Spotting a Rationalization
by Joseph Rowlands
Recently I've had a couple opportunities to suggest that someone is rationalizing. I hesitate to make those kind of statements since they make assumptions about the motives of a person. When analyzing an argument, those motivations are irrelevant. The argument stands or falls on its own merit, not on who's making it... (Read more...)
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Galbraith's Obit Distortions
by Tibor R. Machan
Not even the obituaries can be trusted now. Having been told of the death of John Kenneth Galbraith, the famed socialist economist—who taught at Harvard University for most of his life and was once John Kennedy’s ambassador to India—I read his obituary in The New York Times (both print and on line) and on several Web s... (Read more...)
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Polls Reveal Massive Ignorance and Some Hope
by Michael E. Marotta
The limitations of intellectual activism today are perhaps best understood from this poll by the National Association of Scholars: "Today's College Students Barely More Knowledgeable than High School Students of 50 Years Ago, Poll Shows." We may never defeat mysticism, altruism, and collectivism, but we can find other rational, egocentric individualists.
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