Psychology

Stephen Hicks, “A Primer on Objective Journalism” [Atlas Intellectuals]

Leave a Comment / Atlas Intellectuals, Epistemology, Ethics, Journalism, Philosophy, Psychology /

This week of the self-paced course on Objectivity features Stephen Hicks’s primer on Objective Journalism. “Objectivity means being committed to the facts and to using one’s mind as best one can to discover and interpret them. Journalistic objectivity includes being open to all the facts, doing research to discover the facts, verifying claims, and to integrating logically […]

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Ayn Rand, “The Objectivist Ethics” [Atlas Intellectuals]

Leave a Comment / Atlas Intellectuals, Education, Ethics, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology /

In this unit of our course on Objectivity we feature Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Ethics. Rand was world-famous as the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged when a collection of essays entitled The Virtue of Selfishness was published in 1964. In the opening essay, Rand presents a sustained argument for her ethic of rational self-interest. The full course on Objectivity: https://www.atlassociety.org/course/objectivity.

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How great artists become great: Karajan version

Leave a Comment / Art, Psychology /

According to his biographer: Karajan seems to have spent the greater part of his like seeking the one thing he believed would make him completely happy: absolute mastery over his own destiny. Richard Osborne, Herbert von Karajan: A Life in Music, Northeastern University Press, 1998, p. 33 Related: How other great artists became great:Igor Stravinsky

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Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? [Open College transcript]

Leave a Comment / Ethics, Psychology /

We’re posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the eleventh: OC11: Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? “Is a free and open society more susceptible to the dangers of envy? It’s an interesting question because most often the envy charge is used against socialism, or any kind of outcome-egalitarian

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The new street-populists: Ignorance plus Faith-conditioning plus Moralistic fervor plus Mob psychology.

8 Comments / Politics, Psychology /

Not just one thing explains the new wave of street-populism. Five constituent types, with different levels of understanding and commitment: 1. The mass of protesters: Especially the younger: conditioned by semi- and mis-education, though sometimes with a partial understanding of a real problem. Their moral beliefs stand as unquestionable dogmas of faith in their minds.

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