WHAT THE WOMEN ETHICISTS ARE UP TO: AYN RAND and PHILIPPA FOOT. Lecture 4 of Postmodern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course]

Lecture Four: Why has moral philosophy become skeptical and sterile? In contrast, Ayn Rand rejects the is-ought dichotomy and argues that ethics is “an objective necessity” for volitional, rational beings. Philippa Foot, also updating Aristotle, states that “the grounding of a moral argument is ultimately in facts about human life.” Themes:  Naturalism. Bio-centrism. Value and […]

WHAT THE WOMEN ETHICISTS ARE UP TO: AYN RAND and PHILIPPA FOOT. Lecture 4 of Postmodern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course] Read More »

Lecture today at Francisco Marroquín University, Guatemala: “On Being the Entrepreneur of your Life”

On Friday, October 4, I’m giving an invited talk at UFM in Guatemala City. My topic is: “On Being the Entrepreneur of your Life.” Thanks to the UFM Department of Psychology and Ayn Rand Center Latin America for inviting me. Related: My article in The Wall Street Journal on “What Entrepreneurs Can Teach Us About

Lecture today at Francisco Marroquín University, Guatemala: “On Being the Entrepreneur of your Life” Read More »

Pakistani edition of *Explaining Postmodernism* forthcoming

An Urdu translation of my Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault will be published in Pakistan in late 2024 or early 2025. An Urdu edition, translated by Dr. Nazir Azad, was published in India in 2023. Urdu is the first or second language of 230 million people in Pakistan and India, so

Pakistani edition of *Explaining Postmodernism* forthcoming Read More »

The first 15 countries to grant women the vote

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

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 »

ABSURDITY AND MEANINGLESSNESS? JEAN-PAUL SARTRE and ALBERT CAMUS. Lecture 3 of Postmodern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course]

Suppose that God really is dead. Then, Sartre says “there is no human nature, because there is no God to have a conception of it.” Camus asks whether we are then like Sisyphus, “the absurd hero.” Themes: The decline of religion? The reality of war. Depression and the Depression. The pointlessness of existence? Existence precedes

ABSURDITY AND MEANINGLESSNESS? JEAN-PAUL SARTRE and ALBERT CAMUS. Lecture 3 of Postmodern Philosophy [Peterson Academy course] Read More »