A new episode of my podcast series, produced by Possibly Correct out of Toronto. Audio: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Topics and times: The decline of slavery as a moral achievement // History: Slavery practiced everywhere before modernity // The internal African slave society and trades // The Atlantic trade and where the slaves went // Early […]
The Stain of Slavery [Open College] Read More »
Three data points: 1. The 1973 Roe v. Wade case was decided 7-2 by an all-male court. 2. A 2018 Gallup poll showed statistically small-to-trivial differences between men and women’s beliefs about whether abortion should be legal in all cases, illegal in all cases, or legal/illegal in some cases. 3. A 2018 Pew survey also
Abortion is not a men-versus-women issue Read More »
I’m happy to announce a new edition of my “Ayn Rand and Business Ethics” has been published. Thanks to the team at The Atlas Society for producing it. The essay was originally published in The Journal of Accounting, Ethics & Public Policy and has since been translated into Korean, German, Serbo-Croatian, and Portuguese. Abstract: Most
Ayn Rand and Business Ethics — new booklet edition Read More »
Note the similarity: * The born-entitled-snob mentality says: My daddy’s a zillionaire, so I am special and you are dirt. * The resentful-anti-privilege mentality says: Your daddy’s a zillionaire, so you are repulsive and I hate you. The same premise is at work in both mentalities: One’s status is determined by one’s daddy’s money. Both
Snobs and “privilege” — a quick comparison Read More »
[My annual re-posting for this season’s festivities.] We all know the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge. Or do we? Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol has generated an astonishing variety of interpretations, and as with most rich tales the interpretations often tell us as much about the interpreter as the original story. The legend of Robin Hood
Ebenezer Scrooge as an Aristotelian Hero Read More »
“It is not as easy as you imagine to be a pure egoist, and none such have ever succeeded. The apparent egoism of great nations and of great men is the inevitable sternness with which anyone who has his life fixed on some undertaking must bear himself. When we are really going to do something
Ortega y Gasset on egoism and dedication to purpose Read More »
Self-esteem is 90% of the battle.
Sexism or Racism? The Best Quick Responses Read More »
I wrote this brief entry on “Self-interest in Ayn Rand”, contrasting her view to the strong nativist e.g., Christianity, Freud) and strong tabula rasa (e.g., Skinner, Foucault) positions. Source: Ruth Hagengruber and Mary Ellen Waithe, editors, The Encyclopedia of Concise Concepts by Women Philosophers, Paderborn University, Germany, 2018.
Rand in *The Encyclopedia of Concise Concepts* by Women Philosophers Read More »