 The BS of the BSA
by Mitchell McLeod Willcox
This is an op-ed that I am trying to get published in my university paper as an effort at activism. Unfortunately the op-eds can only be 700 words so it is hard to actually get into the roots of an issue, but at least it is being read and thought about. (Read more...)
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Death and the Meaning of Life
by Keith Augustine
On the time scale of the history of the Earth an individual human lifetime is a mere blink of an eye. We're born, we live, and we die--and then we are "heard no more." Death is like a dreamless sleep from which we will never awake, our consciousness snuffed out forever. If this life is all there is, what is the point of living? (Read more...)
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 Saying Yes to Life
by Jenna W
What matters is that you do good work. What matters is that you produce things that are true and will stand. (Read more...)
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Entertainment & Business
by Tibor R. Machan
As I was channel surfing late the other night, having just woken up from my second nap, I went past one broadcast channel on which I saw and heard the following sentence uttered by a young woman: “He was a businessman so he would do anything to turn a profit.” I caught a glimpse of the name and it w... (Read more...)
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 The Evil Package-Deal
by Joseph Rowlands
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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 Learning Lessons from Toastmasters
by Luke Setzer
Nothing in reality prevents the conception, incubation, birth and growth of a global Objectivist club network into a towering giant. The Toastmasters International club network offers an ideal colossus to emulate. Its enormous success shows that one man can indeed start a global phenomenon. Its sweeping yet grounded vision, mission, values and strategic plan illustrate the role of reason in creating global culture change. Its rigorous procedures for selecting members, officers and contest winners exemplify objectivity in action. Its training systems arise from decades of experience. In short, it offers many lessons for how a good Objectivist club system should do business. (Read more...)
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Success! (A little anyway)
by Mitchell McLeod Willcox
I've had a little bit of success with activism at my university. The subject was smoking bans and the result was hopefully some opened minds. (Read more...)
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So, Here We Go Again!
by Tibor R. Machan
The lawsuit against a Kentucky school district over a Confederate flag prom dress, set to go to trial in August, is yet another illustration of what trouble is caused by public or government schooling. When Jacqueline Duty reportedly alleges that the Russell Independent Board of Education denied her right to free speec... (Read more...)
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Learning Lessons from Beachbody
by Luke Setzer
An Objectivist club network Web site needs a testimonials page as motivating as that of Beachbody. The writers of such testimonials need to spell vividly their states of flourishing before and after embracing Objectivism. They must make clear to all newcomers the vast increase in quality of life that Objectivism delivers. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Liberty & Journalism
by Tibor R. Machan
What journalists should and should not do as professionals can vary, depending on where they do their work, what topic they are dealing with, how often they publish, etc. and so forth. But there are objective standards of journalism—what students are supposed to learn about in journalistic ethics courses. It is no... (Read more...)
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Thursday
February 23, 2006 |
The Equivocation of Chickens
by Dean Michael Gores
Recently I've been focusing on the falacy of equivocation and cases where two people are using different definitions for the same word. In this article I show how to identify the problems in day to day logic and communication. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 22, 2006 |
The Philosophic Validation of Inductive Inference
by Ed Thompson
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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Dying by the Post-Modern Sword
by Jason Pappas
We, who support the struggle of our brave Danish compatriots, are fighting with one hand tied behind our backs—and we are unaware of this handicap. Our side in this battle has failed to use our most important weapon: we are fighting for the truth. This isn’t incidental to the debate; this is the whole purpose of the de... (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings-Controversy: Private vs. Public
by Tibor R. Machan
If you read even just a couple of magazines or newspapers, or check in with some blogs, the presence of controversies cannot escape you. Consider, just for starters, what gets written in National Review versus, say, The Nation, The New Republic, Commentary, or Reason Magazine, say on environmental issues or... (Read more...)
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 Beyond Emotion: The Gestalt Theory of Music
by Joseph C. Maurone
The Gestalt theory of music, if correct, may offer many clues to further Rand's dream of seeing an objective explanation of music. But even if it's not, it's an encouraging sign that man is on the right track, at least, putting aside mystical explanations (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Defending Larry Flynt & the Danish Cartoons
by Tibor R. Machan
Maybe you have forgotten, but there’s a guy in America, named Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler’s, who was lionized in The People v. Larry Flynt, a 1996 movie, despite publishing one of the filthiest, nastiest, and slickest magazines on earth. Why? Because he wouldn’t give in to censors and kept defending his right to ... (Read more...)
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Unilateral Moral Disarmament
by Robert James Bidinotto
Awakening on the morning of September 11, 2001, we Americans were proud, happy, and confident. (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings - Respecting Another's Ideas
by Tibor R. Machan
It’s often said that people of one faith or set of convictions respect the ideas of those with whom they disagree. Say, you are a Roman Catholic, I a Lutheran or Muslim. Do we really respect each other’s beliefs? It may appear so because in some regions and historical periods of the world when large num... (Read more...)
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John Locke's Limited State
by Edward W. Younkins
John Locke (1632-1704) connected with the long tradition of medieval political thought going back to Thomas Aquinas. His philosophical writings led to the great revolutions toward the end of the 18th century. Locke is America’s intellectual Founding Father. Especially in his A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) and Th... (Read more...)
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Wednesday
February 8, 2006 |
Afterglow
by A. Robert Malcom
The Roman era - continuing series of an iconoclastic art history (Read more...)
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The Evolution of the Objective
by Roger E. Bissell
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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Machan's Musings-Revisiting Objectivity
by Tibor R. Machan
In ordinary terms, to achieve objectivity one needs to check one's own likes and dislikes and guard against their influence and also check for influences coming from outside, such as flattery on the psychological front, or obstruction of visibility on the perceptual. To avoid bias one needs discipline and ... (Read more...)
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Altruism Against Freedom
by Joseph Rowlands
Politics is a branch of ethics. It is defined by the ethical system at its root. You can't just pick and choose ethical standards and political systems. Some are necessarily incompatible, and others are mutually reinforcing. The combination I want to focus on is the political system of liberty and the ethics of alt... (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings-Cultural Relativism and Freedom
by Tibor R. Machan
In one area classical and modern liberals have tended to agree, namely, that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, expression, speech, and so forth. Both types of liberals have been supporters of the spirit and letter of the US Constitution’s First Amendment (although modern liberals have been known... (Read more...)
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Machan's Musings-On Thanking God and Paying Heed
by Tibor R. Machan
Whenever I hear someone thank God for escaping some disaster, or meeting with good fortune I squirm. Does this person not imply by such gratitude that those who are hit by the disaster—say suffer from various medical maladies they caught without being responsible for it, or casualties of the tsunami—were pi... (Read more...)
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