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Stephen Boydstun

boydstun@rcn.com
Send me a RoR MailAtlas Count 1360Atlas Count 1360Atlas Count 1360Atlas Count 13601360 Atlas Points

Author Info

View all articles by Stephen Boydstun

Number of Posts: 402
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Num Gallery items: 23
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Description

Premium Articles

"Vegetative Robots and Value"
"The 'With-Measurement' Program"

"Rights, Games, and Self-Realization"

  Intro, Part I, Part II, Part III


Premium Posts
Foundations of Ethics #15, #17, #20

Implied Axioms #207, #230
Who Needs Philosophy #14
Locke and Essence #3
Evolution of the Objective #39
Objectivism and the Correspondence Theory #0
Mind and Representation #4, #6
Concepts #1, #11
Concept Formation #0
Corruption of Measurement #11
Physics and Philosophy #54
Scope of Volition #31, #38
Objectivism and Existentialism #7, #11
Self-Interest #13
Objectivist and Libertarian Politics #36
Definition of Objectivism #12, #24
Whether Objectivist #17

 

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My current intellectual project consists of various integrations of Objectivist theoretical philosophy with science and mathematics. My most recent accomplishment in that vein is the essay "Universals and Measurement" in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (Spring 2004).

In that essay, I argue that Rand's measurement-omission analysis of concepts implies a distinctive magnitude structure for metaphysics. This is structure beyond logical structure, constraint on possibility beyond logical constraint. Yet, it is structure ranging as widely as logical structure through all the sciences and common experience. I uncover this distinctive magnitude structure, characterizing it by its automorphisms, by its location among the mathematical categories, and by the types of measurement it affords. I uncover a structure to universals implicit in Rand's theory that is additional to recurrence structure.

My academic backgrounds are in physics, philosophy, and engineering. My engineering work was building locomotives, then I switched to nuclear power electrical generation. Engineering rounded out the understanding of the physical world I had from physics. Now all those backgrounds, and long study of philosophy, too, are put into my project of extending Ayn Rand's metaphysics.

I created, financed, and edited Objectivity, a hardcopy "journal of metaphysics, epistemology, and theory of value informed by modern science" (1990-98). All issues of Objectivity are now freely available online for readers and researchers.


Visit www.objectivity-archive.com

On the romantic side, my partner's name is Walter. We have been together thirteen years. He has two sons and one grandson, now age eight. It is wonderful to have a family.












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Article:

Wednesday
April 29, 2009
War for Men's Minds
Intelligence, Animality, and Machinery
by Stephen Boydstun
Sanctions: 9Sanctions: 9 Sanction this ArticleEditMark as your favorite article

In the first section, I articulate what definitely does not possess intelligence. In the second,

what definitely does possess intelligence and what intelligence, if any, might be reasonably ascribed to animals and machines. (This paper was written in 2000.) (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (8 messages)

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(News) Information Flow and Democracy
(Books) Wittgenstein, Austrian Economics and the Logic of Action
(Books) Objectivity and the Rule of Law
(News) Ayn Rand Society 2009
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RecentPosts

General Forum - An Idea of Infinity - 81
   Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - 5:14pm -- .........New work on METAPHYSICAL INFINITY is HERE..........In Objectivity are t...
Article Discussions - The Primary-Secondary Quality Distinction - 54
   Monday, June 29, 2009 - 2:27pm -- ...Yes, indeed, Smith has things to say about the distinction in his book. I men...
General Forum - Is Taxation an Initiation of Force? - 55
   Saturday, June 27, 2009 - 6:20pm -- ...Phil, in #51, you said that “you rightfully own what you produce, or what you...
Article Discussions - Who Needs Philosophy - 16
   Saturday, June 27, 2009 - 12:58pm -- ...Ed, in (7) you have Rand’s assignment to William James of the credit for spaw...
Article Discussions - Mind and Representation - 13
   Saturday, June 27, 2009 - 6:25am -- ......Finally, I have followed up in a substantive way on this note and this no...
General Forum - The Holy Grail of AI - an Impossibility - 29
   Thursday, June 25, 2009 - 3:12am -- Howard,......You asked rhetorically in #14 “Does life imply intelligence?” Just ...
General Forum - Is Taxation an Initiation of Force? - 13
   Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 8:34am -- ......Further lines of argument: 2007 & 1987.........
Article Discussions - The Primary-Secondary Quality Distinction - 49
   Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 5:52am -- ...I have appreciated Bill Dwyer’s contributions to this very rich thread. He as...
Article Discussions - Mind and Representation - 12
   Saturday, June 20, 2009 - 12:01pm -- ...At Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews...is a Review of The Case for Qualia....
General Forum - The Holy Grail of AI - an Impossibility - 12
   Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - 12:52pm -- ...Howard,......We have proofs of various sorts. We say that Roger Bannister pro...


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