Politics

The first 15 countries to grant women the vote

4 Comments / Fruits of the Enlightenment, History, Politics /

In chronological order: 1893 New Zealand1902 Australia1906 Finland1913 Norway1915 Denmark1917 Canada1918 Austria, Germany, Poland, Russia1919 Netherlands1920 United States1921 Sweden1928 Britain, Ireland All other countries in the world: Granted later or not yet granted. Interesting: Six of the fifteen are British or former British colonies, and the other nine are northern European. Source. Related: This clip on the Enlightenment of the 1700s, which transformed the Western world’s […]

The first 15 countries to grant women the vote Read More »

Toohey’s five strategies of altruism

11 Comments / Business Ethics, Ethics, Objectivism, Philosophy, Politics /

The ethics of altruism [from the Latin, alter-ism or other-ism] holds that others are the standard of value. One is good to the extent one puts the interests of others first, acts to achieve their interests, and, when necessary, sacrifices one’s interests for their sake. In The Fountainhead, Ellsworth Toohey is the major strategist of

Toohey’s five strategies of altruism Read More »

Friedrich Engels against liberal peace

5 Comments / Ethics, History of Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics /

A good example of how political philosophy is driven by ethics. Here is Engels, Karl Marx’s collaborator in writing The Communist Manifesto and other works, criticizing liberals — despite nineteenth-century liberalism’s great accomplishment in reducing war and promoting peace between nations: You have brought about the fraternisation of the peoples – but the fraternity is

Friedrich Engels against liberal peace Read More »

Liberal versus gender feminism: McElroy’s *Sexual Correctness*

8 Comments / Ethics, Human Nature, Politics /

In my Ethics course, we cover the arguments for and against banning pornography. One of our readings is from Wendy McElroy’s Sexual Correctness: The Gender-Feminist Attack on Women. McElroy takes up the gender-feminist arguments against porn and contrasts them with liberal individualist forms of feminism. The following updated* chart of contrasts is a work in

Liberal versus gender feminism: McElroy’s *Sexual Correctness* Read More »