Volume 20, No. 1: Spring 2025

If you are a paid subscriber, you will be able to access PDF and EPUB versions of this issue here by Monday 17 March.

In this issue:

From the Editor

The Spring 2025 Issue of TOS Is Published!

Craig Biddle
·
Mar 6
The Spring 2025 Issue of TOS Is Published!

With this issue, we begin not only our twentieth year of publication but also our first year at our new digital home on Substack.

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Politics and Rights

Philosophy

Free Will: Who Has It

Craig Biddle
·
Mar 6
Free Will: Who Has It

If someone builds a business, cures a disease, or writes a symphony, did he choose to exert the effort that caused the achievement? Could he have done otherwise? Or was he moved by forces beyond his control?

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Politics & Rights

Trump’s Tariffs: Immoral, Indefensible, and Illiberal

Mar 6
Trump’s Tariffs: Immoral, Indefensible, and Illiberal

Tariffs don’t tax foreign businesses or governments—they tax you.

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Politics & Rights

DOGE Should Protect Rights, Not ‘Democracy’

Mar 6
DOGE Should Protect Rights, Not ‘Democracy’

Donald Trump ran on a platform that promised major cost-cutting initiatives spearheaded by a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The creation of DOGE by executive order is being challenged as unconstitutional. Legal wrangling aside, the most fundamental question is whether the government should even be engaged in the spending DOGE is now investigating.

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The People Promoting Life, Reason, and Liberty—Even in a War Zone

Thomas Walker-Werth
·
Feb 20
The People Promoting Life, Reason, and Liberty—Even in a War Zone

Traveling to different countries to speak at conferences is a big part of my work, and I love it. But when I was asked to speak at Ayn Rand Center Ukraine (ARCU)’s 2025 Intellectual Bootcamp in Kyiv, I was hesitant.

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Heroes

Philosophy

Giordano Bruno: Herald of the Enlightenment

Mar 6
Giordano Bruno: Herald of the Enlightenment

"The night of the Middle Ages lasted for a thousand years. The first star that enriched the horizon of this universal gloom was Giordano Bruno. He was the herald of the dawn." —Robert Ingersoll

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Good Living

Charlie Munger’s Value Investing: A Philosophical Approach

Mar 6
Charlie Munger’s Value Investing: A Philosophical Approach

On May 4, 2024, “Woodstock for Capitalists” took place in Omaha, Nebraska. But one important figure was notably absent.

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History

Richard Trevithick: The Forgotten Hero of Steam

Thomas Walker-Werth
·
Jan 22
Richard Trevithick: The Forgotten Hero of Steam

Richard Trevithick, “perhaps the outstanding mechanical engineer of his generation,” transformed human life by pioneering high-pressure steam engines.

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The Arts

Arts & Culture

Lessons on Liberty and Self-Esteem from The Handmaid’s Tale

Angelica Walker-Werth
·
Mar 6
Lessons on Liberty and Self-Esteem from The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret Atwood’s classic dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, shows a population ground down by an authoritarian government. It depicts in depth the psychological effects of this regime on the main character, Offred—especially the destruction of her self-esteem.

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Arts & Culture

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Mar 6
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie’s writing career began with a bet. At the height of World War I, while Christie was working at a hospital dispensary, her sister Madge claimed that Christie would not be able to write a murder mystery novel in which the reader is given the same clues as the detective but is unable to correctly identify the murderer.

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Arts & Culture

Why Does Hollywood Have an Originality Problem?

Angelica Walker-Werth
·
Jan 30
Why Does Hollywood Have an Originality Problem?

Commenting on the lack of originality in Hollywood today has become cliché. But films can be—and many of the best are—original works of art.

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Arts & Culture

New Who at Twenty: The Doctor Who Revival’s Best Episodes

Thomas Walker-Werth
·
Jan 14
New Who at Twenty: The Doctor Who Revival’s Best Episodes

In its best seasons, Doctor Who probed hard-hitting moral questions and delivered fascinating sci-fi concepts, heroic stories, and captivating characters.

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Arts & Culture

Twin Peaks, Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost

Mar 6
Twin Peaks, Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost

"The clues are all there for a correct interpretation, and I keep saying that, in a lot of ways, it’s a straight-ahead story. There are only a few things that are a hair off." —David Lynch

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Arts & Culture

It Ends With Us, Directed by Justin Baldoni

Angelica Walker-Werth
·
Mar 6
It Ends With Us, Directed by Justin Baldoni

Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, adapted for the big screen last year, has a number of problems. The movie improves on some but not all these issues.

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