Via Classically Liberal, reprising this intriguing connection. In a letter to his former master, Frederick Douglass explains his decision to escape from slavery: “The morality of the act, I dispose as follows: I am myself; you are yourself; we are two distinct persons, equal persons. What you are, I am. You are a man, and […]
Frederick Douglass and Ayn Rand Read More »
An observation by Bertrand de Jouvenel on begrudging others’ riches. The question he takes up is this: Why are the great incomes of movie stars and singers not routinely attacked while the great incomes of CEOs and entrepreneurs are? “The film star or the crooner is not grudged the income that is grudged to the
Jouvenel on begrudging other people’s wealth Read More »
A contemporary Kantian on sex: Why sexual desire is objectifying — and hence morally wrong. (And here is the relevant text from Kant’s lectures on sex.) When I read (ahem) hardcore dualist stuff like this, I always wonder if they and I are talking about the same experience. For example, think about most people’s reaction
Icky then and icky now — a disciple of Kant on sex Read More »
[This is Appendix 3 of Nietzsche and the Nazis. Sources for the quotations are at the end of this post.] Appendix 3: Quotations on German anti-Semitism Martin Luther (1483-1546): “The Jews deserve to hang on gallows, seven times higher than ordinary thieves.” And: “We ought to take revenge on the Jews and kill them.”[189] Immanuel
Appendix 3: Quotations on German anti-Semitism [Nietzsche and the Nazis] Read More »
“I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1) “It is the mark of a free man not to live at another’s beck and call.” (Aristotle, Rhetoric 1367a30) “One profits more by the mistakes one makes off one’s own bat than by doing the right thing on
The soul of adventure — quotations Read More »
Reprising this post from 2016, using this very clear and representative list of experiences that one can check off or not. Some are positive, others are irritating, and some are infuriating for those who experience them. The purpose of the list is (in part) to help one realize how good/challenged/frustrated/damaged one’s life is. But note
*Privilege* as a bundled anti-concept Read More »
Reprising this fascinating short article in the British Journal of Medicine by Robert N. Proctor, professor of the history of medicine at Penn State University: “The anti-smoking campaigns of the Nazis: a little known aspect of public health in Germany, 1933-1945” [pdf]. The campaign was mounted despite the arguments that (1) taxes on tobacco were
Famous anti-smoking activists from history Read More »
Reprising this classic from the Department of Collegial Zingers: here is W. K. Clifford on an intellectual acquaintance: “He is writing a book on metaphysics, and is really cut out for it; the clearness with which he thinks he understands things and his total inability to express what little he knows will make his fortune
W. K. Clifford on philosophical writing style Read More »