A new book is forthcoming this spring: Steve Jobs and Philosophy. The editor is Shawn E. Klein, a professor of philosophy at Rockford University. He has assembled sixteen essays on Steve Jobs’s impact. Klein’s summary: “Jobs was an outstanding achiever and a complex man with serious faults. This book is neither demonization nor hagiography. It […]
Shawn Klein’s *Steve Jobs and Philosophy* Read More »
April 10-12, Cancún, Mexico. Liberty Fund Socratic Seminar. Topic: E. G. West’s Education and the State. April 13-14: Cancún. APEE Conference. Topic One: “Corruption in Business—Does Regulation Lessen or Increase It?” Topic Two: “Social Virtues for Individualists.” April 19-25: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Fundación para la Responsabilidad Intelectual. Topics: TBA. April 29-May 1: Jekyll Island, Georgia.
My speaking schedule April-July 2015 Read More »
Permitam-me dar alguns exemplos de monopólios, para logo em seguida perguntar: quais são bons e quais são ruins? Megan e Ramon começaram a namorar e estão encantados um pelo outro. Em pouco tempo, eles estão monopolizando o seu tempo nessa relação amorosa e decidem se casar. Um município, localizado em uma área remota, possui somente
Monopólio bom, monopólio ruim [Portuguese translation] Read More »
Dr. Carrie-Ann Biondi of Marymount Manhattan College will be speaking on “Mike Rowe and Ayn Rand: Somebody’s Gotta Do It.” Dr. Biondi won Marymount Manhattan’s teaching excellence award in 2012. A video of her acceptance speech is here. According to my colleague Shawn Klein, who is organizing the talk, Dr. Biondi’s focus is actor Mike
Professor Carrie-Ann Biondi to speak at Rockford University Read More »
Levante o tópico dos monopólios, e a discussão resultante rapidamente evidenciará deficiências ideológicas. Um colega com quem lecionei nas áreas de negócios e capitalismo enviou-me, de forma entusiasmada, esse artigo escrito por Paul Krugman, um economista vencedor do Prêmio Nobel. Krugman ataca a Amazon e clama por algum tipo de intervenção sobre suas atividades. A Amazon,
Quem realmente liga para os monopólios? Read More »
[Below is the text. Here also is a PDF version.] John Maynard Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire (1926) The disposition towards public affairs, which we conveniently sum up as individualism and laissez-faire, drew its sustenance from many different rivulets of thought and springs of feeling. For more than a hundred years our philosophers ruled us
Keynes’s “The End of Laissez-Faire” (text) Read More »
A standard argument for mandatory schooling is that it reduces crime. Behind that argument are claims that formal education civilizes and/or that schooling gets kids off the streets where they otherwise might be. That is to say, in economics-speak, that education has positive externalities beyond whatever other value one already ascribes it. I’m still re-reading
Does schooling reduce crime? Read More »
The standard claim is that philosophy begins with Thales. When I teach this to my students, it’s a hard sell, for here are the founding texts in philosophy — ascribed to Thales by Aristotle: “The first principle and basic nature of all things is water.” and “All things are full of gods.” You can imagine
Why Philosophy Begins with Thales Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “German authorities will allow the republication of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, after decades of censorship. “Decent people can argue that the book is too dangerous to be published. But the fact is that Mein Kampf is too dangerous not to be published. “The great fear is that Hitler’s ideas are not dead and that his
Is Republishing Hitler’s Mein Kampf the Correct Decision? [new The Good Life column] Read More »
Você provavelmente já ouviu as más notícias: supostamente, os recursos naturais estão acabando. Como resultado, surge a questão: você continuará a utilizar recursos de forma egoísta — ou você está disposto a se sacrificar? Possivelmente, você (como individuo) é uma pessoa abnegada, contudo, qual é a probabilidade de que a maioria das outras pessoas desista
Vivemos realmente em um mundo de recursos escassos? Não Read More »