Philosophy
Good Living, Philosophy
Helen Keller’s Five Keys to Being Happy
Craig Biddle August 29, 2023
In 1882, when Helen Keller was nineteen months old, an illness left her blind, deaf, and consequently dumb. But she would go on to live a life of success and happiness. How?
Arts & Culture, Philosophy
George Lucas Gets the Moral Meaning of Star Wars Wrong
Thomas Walker-Werth August 29, 2023
George Lucas says that selfishness puts one on the dark side, but it’s really the other way around. Selfishness, properly understood, is the rational concern for one’s own interests. It is the light.
Good Living, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
Navigating Today’s Seductive and Destructive Language (A Study of Package-Deals and Anti-Concepts)
Craig Biddle May 24, 2023
If we want to understand and protect the values on which human life and liberty depend, we need clear understandings of the terms we use in thinking about them. Toward this end, it is helpful to understand the fallacy that Rand called “package-dealing” and the nature of what she called “anti-concepts.”
Ayn Rand & Objectivism, Economics, History, Philosophy, Politics & Rights
Adam Smith, Ayn Rand, and the Philosophic Foundation for Freedom
Jon Hersey May 24, 2023
Adam Smith and Ayn Rand are widely considered to offer merely different flavors of pro-capitalist thought. But their differences are greater—and far more consequential—than their similarities.
Philosophy
The Ethics of Belief
William Kingdon Clifford May 24, 2023
William Kingdon Clifford was a 19th-century English mathematician and philosopher. In this essay, “The Ethics of Belief,” originally published in 1877, he argues that “it is wrong always, everywhere and for any one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”
Good Living, Philosophy
Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life by Emily A. Austin
Timothy Sandefur May 18, 2023
Living for Pleasure is a fun and much-needed introduction to the ideas of one of the world’s greatest philosophers. Epicurus’s teachings about reason, desire, and tranquility are as important now as they were twenty-three hundred years ago.
Ayn Rand & Objectivism, Philosophy
Debate: Is Objectivism a "Closed System" or an "Open System"?
Craig Biddle May 17, 2023
My debate with Stephen Hicks about whether Objectivism is a closed system or an open system has been posted on YouTube. Check it out—and if you find it clarifying, share it with people you think might appreciate it.
Arts & Culture, Philosophy, Reviews
Babylon 5: Pioneering, Philosophic Science Fiction
Thomas Walker-Werth February 21, 2023
Babylon 5 is a unique science-fiction series that tells an epic story rich in philosophic ideas and moral messages. These make it timeless and well worth watching for anyone interested in complex drama.
Philosophy, Politics & Rights
Freedom’s Furies: Timothy Sandefur on the Importance of Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand
Jon Hersey February 21, 2023
Isabel Paterson’s The God of the Machine, Rose Wilder Lane’s The Discovery of Freedom, and Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, all published in 1943, launched the modern American liberty movement. Freedom’s Furies by Timothy Sandefur is the first book-length exploration of these women's relationships and context.
Philosophy, Reviews
Knock at the Cabin, Written, Produced, and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Knock at the Cabin depicts the vile notion that it is moral to sacrifice the person you love most—your highest value—for the benefit of others and/or to appease God.