From Ukraine, Roman Skaskiw asks: “One of my great fears is that the postmodernists, like the Bolsheviks, are correct in prioritizing power over meaning. Those who believe in meaning exhaust themselves making arguments to people who do not believe in truth — modernist argument against a post-modernist ideology. What if a thousand slogans and bad […]
Roman Skaskiw’s hard question about anti-pomo strategy Read More »
Old-time racists and sexists said: “Clear thinking — it’s not for woman, minorities, and gays.” Social-Justice Wokists today say: “Exactly!!” Rigorous thinking, according to some, is a virtue that leads to safe high-voltage electrical systems, pharmaceutical doses that are precisely calibrated, and bridges that stay up. Not so, says engineering Professor Donna Riley. Rather it
“Can women and minorities think rigorously?” The SJW say “No” Read More »
Waterfall is a guided series of courses for everyone interested in issues upon which Objectivism has something distinctive and important to say. The second course: Socialism. Examine the aspirations, arguments, strategies, and disasters of socialist theory and practice—as well as explore the strongest criticisms of socialism. Authors include Ayn Rand, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Robert
Orwell on Nazism as Socialism [Waterfall] Read More »
With history is repeating itself these months, a quotation from 1921: “Everything I have said and done in these last years is relativism by intuition. If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories and those who claim to be the bearers of objective immortal truth … then there is nothing more relativistic than Fascist attitudes and
Fascist and/or Antifa? A famous activist from 99 years ago Read More »
Early modern philosopher Francis Bacon opens his “Of Marriage and Single Life” essay this way: “He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly, the best works, and of the greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried
Should philosophers ever marry? Read More »
Indeed: “Many a person remains in the same town, street, or house from January to December, without a wish or thought tending towards removal, who, if confined to that same place by the mandate of authority, would find the imprisonment absolutely intolerable.” Source: Principles of Political Economy. Robson, J. M., ed. Books I-II. Indianapolis: Liberty
John Stuart Mill on the lock-downs Read More »
Evergreen graduate Benjamin Boyce’s insider documentary: “The Compete Evergreen Story.” Shaun Cammack at Heterodox Academy: “When race is understood as both the foundation of the self and the determinant of cognitive authority, it follows that there is simply no such thing as a dyadic interaction. Interaction between people of different races is understood as inherently intercollective.
Autopsies on the Evergreen College race affair Read More »
Jennifer Grossman invited contemporary artist Michael Newberry and me to talk about great art. Topics: * Rembrandt’s mesmerizing of the young Newberry. * The sublime in Burke and Kant. * Aristotle’s grounding of art and Rand’s updating. * Icarus Landing (2001). * Envy and destruction in some strains of modern and postmodern art. * The