 Ethnicity is Obsolete
by Tibor R. Machan
In the United States of America ethnic distinctions are especially impossible to maintain with a straight face. Who are the Native Americans? The blacks? The whites? The Hispanics? These are entirely accidental categories, having to do with attributes that hardly remain stable over the lives of individuals, let alone across generations. (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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 Thank you Scientists and Technologists
by Tibor R. Machan
There is so much that scientists have discovered that makes our lives rich and rewarding that it may seem pointless to call attention to it all. But I am very fond of the saying, “Notice the good and praise it,” over and over again. (Read more...)
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 Virtue of Loyalty
by Joseph Rowlands
Loyalty is traditionally viewed as a virtue. And yet it my experience, Objectivists tend to reject loyalty as a kind of irrationality. That's not particularly surprising. Loyalty is often viewed as sticking by someone's side no matter how irrational they are or improper their behavior. It is thought of as turning a... (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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A Virtue of Optimism
by Joseph Rowlands
One of the characteristics that is common to most of the Objectivist virtues is an identification of things that have the possibility of getting in the way of acting effectively and rationally. Honesty, for instance, points out how acting on the unreal is counterproductive, and that only a focus on what's real can lea... (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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 Barbaric Conduct in London
by Tibor R. Machan
The apparent murderer in London declared on a video that "The only reasons we killed this man ... is because Muslims are dying daily," he said in video aired by CNN affiliate ITN. (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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Selfish Altruism
by Joseph Rowlands
There is an inconsistency among people who support altruism. They can't quite decide whether altruism should be practiced because it benefits them or in spite of the fact that it benefits them. (Read more...)
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More Environmentalist Confusions
by Tibor R. Machan
The New York Observer reported in its April 15, 2013, issue (B 1) that Leonardo DiCaprio is teaming up with Christie’s in New York City, to hold a “major philanthropic auction.” I am not interested in the details, which appear to me a kind of kiss up to fellow celebrities on the political/cultural Left. But the following statement from the actor is quite instructive: (Read more...)
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Economic Power and Intervention
by Joseph Rowlands
A common view of economic relationships is that a person isn't really free if they have no real choice in a decision. When the stakes are high and the options are limited, a person will have to take the most attractive option. He has no choice. And if he has no choice, it really isn't freedom. Even though no coerci... (Read more...)
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No Difference in Ideology & Values
by Tibor R. Machan
When you consider what is the difference between the ideology of North Korea and that of the U. S. A., it is difficult to say. In practical terms, of course, the U.S.A. is still largely individualistic but our leaders, especially President Obama, embrace a rhetoric that stresses togetherness, “everyone being in the same boat,” etc. In short, America’s current administration has an ideology that is very close to what guides the North Korean communist government. (Read more...)
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Variants of Consequentialism
by Joseph Rowlands
Consequentialism describes moral systems that focus judgment on the consequences of actions. (Read more...)
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 The Corruption of Individual Rights
by Tibor R. Machan
Whenever a good idea surfaces, there will surely be many who will try to hitch their wagon to it filled with corrupt versions that aim to serve numerous purposes having little to do with the original good idea. One example is the idea of individual natural human rights. (Read more...)
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Capitalism Is Moral
by Barry A. Liebling
Steven Pearlstein, a Washington Post columnist, recently published "Is Capitalism Moral?" where he answers, "not so much." His argument depends upon altruist-collectivist assumptions. An understanding of rational egoism reveals that Mr Pearlstein is mistaken, and capitalism is the only moral system. (Read more...)
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Different Views of Integrity
by Joseph Rowlands
A person shows integrity when they stick with their judgment even under pressure. As a virtue, this is a useful and admirable quality. It's useful because it's not enough to be rational, to be thoroughly honest, to weigh your choices careful and to determine your best course of action. None of that matters if you do... (Read more...)
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Objectivism as a Strong Undercurrent
by Michael E. Marotta
According to the Ayn Rand Institute April 7, 2008, total sales of Ayn Rand’s works was “over 25 million.” I believe that actual sales are much greater. Message boards for Objectivists and fans of Ayn Rand often carry debates, recommendations, and condemnations about new works such as Lord of the Rings and The Watchmen. That, too, suggests more missing numbers. (Read more...)
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Revisiting Our Basic Rights
by Tibor R. Machan
Professor Lynn Hunt’s recently published book on rights, titled Inventing Human Rights, is filled with a great deal of very useful important information about the emergence of the idea of basic human, individual rights, but it also perpetuates, perhaps entirely unconsciously, a very serious and hazardous error. (Read more...)
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Disconfirming Evidence
by Joseph Rowlands
Years ago in school I learned about an important method in science. Since then, I've mentioned it to a few people and they told me that they were never actually taught it in school. The lesson went something like this: A guy is given a set of numbers. The numbers given are 4, 6, 8, 12, and 14. He is told that... (Read more...)
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A Prècis on Libertarianism and Capitalism
by Tibor R. Machan
What is primarily prohibited in a libertarian society is involuntary servitude. (Read more...)
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 Beauty, Goodness, Life
by Stephen Boydstun
Literary Arts American Heritage Dictionary defines art as “the conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty; specifically, the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.” The types after the semicolon are ... (Read more...)
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Self-Referential Paternalist Foibles
by Tibor R. Machan
At the foundation of this paternalism lies the belief that many of us ordinary blokes need some pushing around so we conduct ourselves properly, sensibly, prudently, wisely--in short, virtuously. Never mind that virtuous conduct needs to be freely chosen for it to amount to something praiseworthy. (Read more...)
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