We former kids who are still pretty much kids used to hear two jokes concerning when a question is asked with the obvious answer being yes: "Does a bear shit in the woods?" and "Is the Pope a Catholic?" When we got bored, we'd mix 'em up a bit: "Does the Pope shit in the woods?" ... To which one of the replies would be, "He does if he's bare."
Yeah, stupid, funny, corny. Hell, it still puts a grin on my face -- especially with the current inerrant Pope and his billion-person herd praying for forgiveness and demanding expiation from the flock. Now, this is too much fun on many counts, so I'm almost (ALMOST) embarrassed to have so much easy comedy to choose from in the hapless smorgasbord.
First off, you've got a Pope who didn't tell cops about some of his priests fucking kids, fucking lots of innocent kids. Then the Pope (who's probably been watching too much American football) adopts the adage "the best defense is a good offense" and tells his mostly innocent flock that they need to pray for the church and even themselves. Note to Pope: "THEY didn't fuck kids or hide priests who fucked kids! YOU did." (end of note)
The Pope owns his own country and has a billion sheep, two things that give politicians and police chiefs hiccups and Alzheimer's. I have approximately 30 readers of my blog every day and do not own my own country (yet) and I love liberty, so I am a prime target for politicians and police chiefs, who would throw me in with the butt-busters in prison if I ever defiled children.
Now, you perceptive readers may have noticed I used the adjective "inerrant" in describing the Pope above. Yes, popes do not make mistakes. They are the direct line between sheep and the guy in the sky with the big cigar and a subscription to the Pedophilia United Broadcasting Incorporation Channel (PUBIC). Popes get direct instructions from the PUBIC lover and, therefore, never makes errors -- at least until modern constitutional republics and the Internet came along. Now, they've admitted to errors during the Holocaust, about their treatment of Galileo of his discoveries, about whether priests can put their penises in young children, and about whether Tim Tebow is in fact Christ risen.
We can only imagine how many tens of millions of children have been subjected to life-altering abuse in dank chambers, musty back rooms and dark forests over the last two thousand years of popery. The mystical rats in robes have ruled their sheep's minds, and therefore their bodies and morality, for centuries and done as they please. It is a shameful era in the history of humankind -- and one that speaks eloquently to what happens to people when they become weak of mind and spirit by not critically challenging the shamans who seek power over them.
And yet watch the crusty curmudgeon conehead and his crucifix enthrall still the hordes who run to him as their saviour's elect. The beady eyes smile knowingly at their credulity. His back bends with the weight of decades of irrationality, carrying the cross of faith -- the f-word that is anathema to all who love life.
One of every 6 human beings adore this white monster, and most of the Supreme Court of the United States of America call him their moral leader. ... Does that give you pause?!
Does the Pope shit in the woods?
Friday, April 30, 2010
Georgia bans texting while driving -- which will kill more people
You got the usual banal reasons for why the Georgia pudge-balls (i.e. "legislators") decided to bring the fascist state into the sending of letters in your car, which is known in modern circles as "texting." The pudge-balls did it yesterday and the supreme pudge-ball (i.e. "governor Perdue") will use his pen to add it to the history of legislation that does the opposite of what is allegedly designed to do.
It allegedly will save lives, especially teen-agers' lives, because it will allegedly make them stop sending short letters while behind the wheel. Having once been a teen-ager (unlike the pudge-ball Peter Pans, who've always just been elementary school tattle-tales and bullies), you and I know what happens when fascists tell teen-agers they can't do something, right?
Yep, they then REALLY want to do it. The defiant ones, like myself, will do it whenever we want like we have a goddamned right to do. But (and here's where the fatal irony of this bill comes in) the shy ones and the mostly obedient ones will begin texting in their laps instead of by the steering wheel to avoid detection.
What this will mean, of course, is that thousands of eyes that used to be at least partially on the road via peripheral vision will now be downcast and blind to avoid a fine. Result? More crashes. More deaths. More laws on people not even carrying cell phones in their car that are turned on. The pudge-balls will use the new deaths as vindication for their fascist legislation's importance and insist on jack-booting to the next fascist step of legislation.
Moreover, the police will not know whether a teenager is texting or punching numbers for a phone call. As one critic explained, this law is virtually unenforceable until AFTER an accident or another law is being broken simultaneously. But then, fascist laws aren't meant to be enforced; they are meant to intimidate and remind individuals of who exactly is in charge.
And, by the way, it ain't YOU!
It allegedly will save lives, especially teen-agers' lives, because it will allegedly make them stop sending short letters while behind the wheel. Having once been a teen-ager (unlike the pudge-ball Peter Pans, who've always just been elementary school tattle-tales and bullies), you and I know what happens when fascists tell teen-agers they can't do something, right?
Yep, they then REALLY want to do it. The defiant ones, like myself, will do it whenever we want like we have a goddamned right to do. But (and here's where the fatal irony of this bill comes in) the shy ones and the mostly obedient ones will begin texting in their laps instead of by the steering wheel to avoid detection.
What this will mean, of course, is that thousands of eyes that used to be at least partially on the road via peripheral vision will now be downcast and blind to avoid a fine. Result? More crashes. More deaths. More laws on people not even carrying cell phones in their car that are turned on. The pudge-balls will use the new deaths as vindication for their fascist legislation's importance and insist on jack-booting to the next fascist step of legislation.
Moreover, the police will not know whether a teenager is texting or punching numbers for a phone call. As one critic explained, this law is virtually unenforceable until AFTER an accident or another law is being broken simultaneously. But then, fascist laws aren't meant to be enforced; they are meant to intimidate and remind individuals of who exactly is in charge.
And, by the way, it ain't YOU!
Out of pocket trying to get rich
For more than three weeks I've been working on nailing down a potentially lucrative deal for ownership and executive employment with a company that has amazing chemical patents and is breaking into the marketplace. We're working out final details this weekend, hopefully to the benefit of all parties. My friend Chris is joining me in this endeavor, and we've worked tirelessly with proposals, due diligence and hard negotiations, so we're pretty warn out but exhilirated at the potential, which I'll talk more on if we get things worked out as planned.
All of the above has meant I've had virtually no time for anything other than basic life stuff -- and though I love to blog and express my opinions (ahem), that ain't one of the primary life-stuff thingies. But today, as we wait for the company to get back with us on the final details, I'm going to blog and blog and blog a little more. Hope you enjoy.
All of the above has meant I've had virtually no time for anything other than basic life stuff -- and though I love to blog and express my opinions (ahem), that ain't one of the primary life-stuff thingies. But today, as we wait for the company to get back with us on the final details, I'm going to blog and blog and blog a little more. Hope you enjoy.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The superstitious mind and individual rights
Priests refer to their parishioners as "my flock."
Rightly so. They are sheep -- to be herded, to be fed mysticism, to be intellectually and morally slaughtered.
The flock must bend to religion's make-believe metaphysics, to religion's insistence on epistemological retreat (faith), to religion's demands of immorality, to religion's self-sacrificing politics.
Religion is the ideal training camp for fascism, socialism, communism, liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, despotism -- any political "ism" that demands self-sacrifice and obedience. The sheep believe they rebel, but even when the sheep enjoy their tea parties, they demand sacrifice from fellow sheep via taxation, regulation, subsidies, welfare. Sure, these sheep say they want less authority and less obedience, but they simply ask for smaller knives at the throats of their fellow citizens. They can't help it. They are sheep.
The non-religious are sheep, too, though they like to think they are rebels and hippies and anti-establishment and trend-setters and intellectual. They are better sheep than the religious sheep. They lambast "greed" and wealth on par with Jesus, unlike their conservative brethren, who ignore the hypocrisy.
The god of the non-religious is Immanuel Kant, who proclaimed that duty is what rightly drives human beings and that we are born with "categorical imperatives" in our mind that guide duty and "good will." In other words, we ain't in control; we should obey some intrinsic things in our minds, and we should sacrifice ourselves and happiness to others and duties to others. (Kant was the King of circular reasoning)
There have been many Kant disciples through the last two centuries, but it is ultimately Kant that the atheistic sheep worship -- ironically, because Kant himself was a theist, whose main purpose was to give alleged vindication of a god's presence and authority over morality: god is necessary for the "ideal of the supreme good."
And so we have the superstitious left and right in this country, who've abandoned their minds to their gods of the heavens and universities. The sheep have surrendered their rationality for obedience and irrational doctrines and concomitant self-sacrifice. They have disdain for themselves and, therefore, for all individuals. Their self-loathing projects itself up the rest of us, insisting that we be punished physically for their intellectual misery.
They cannot believe that individuals have efficacy, the ability to understand reality and the ability to be independently happy. They cannot believe that individuals must be left alone. Individuals must be commanded, and individuals must obey. They must serve. They must, ironically, try to make others happy but not themselves.
And, so, they cannot understand individual rights. They cannot understand rights. They do not want rights and they insist that others do not have them either. We are all sheep, after all -- unworthy of rights, waiting for our next commands, waiting to be rightfully slaughtered. Bound sheep do not like unbound sheep.
As long as the vast majority of humanity allows superstition to grip it by the throat and cut off oxygen to the brain, we will not have individual rights. We cannot even discuss it seriously until great gobs of individuals take ideas and themselves and reality seriously. We will continue to live in the Dark Ages as our "modern" brethren and sisters flock to their particular brand of mysticism.
I sometimes wish I could live 300 years hence, when Objectivism has won and young children's mouths gape open as they hear of a time in the 21st century when people, even adults, actually BELIEVED IN GODS!
At least the very thought of such a time and such children makes me smile. And I've seen that gaping mouth on the face of my own lovely daughter. And, oh, how I smile!
Rightly so. They are sheep -- to be herded, to be fed mysticism, to be intellectually and morally slaughtered.
The flock must bend to religion's make-believe metaphysics, to religion's insistence on epistemological retreat (faith), to religion's demands of immorality, to religion's self-sacrificing politics.
Religion is the ideal training camp for fascism, socialism, communism, liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, despotism -- any political "ism" that demands self-sacrifice and obedience. The sheep believe they rebel, but even when the sheep enjoy their tea parties, they demand sacrifice from fellow sheep via taxation, regulation, subsidies, welfare. Sure, these sheep say they want less authority and less obedience, but they simply ask for smaller knives at the throats of their fellow citizens. They can't help it. They are sheep.
The non-religious are sheep, too, though they like to think they are rebels and hippies and anti-establishment and trend-setters and intellectual. They are better sheep than the religious sheep. They lambast "greed" and wealth on par with Jesus, unlike their conservative brethren, who ignore the hypocrisy.
The god of the non-religious is Immanuel Kant, who proclaimed that duty is what rightly drives human beings and that we are born with "categorical imperatives" in our mind that guide duty and "good will." In other words, we ain't in control; we should obey some intrinsic things in our minds, and we should sacrifice ourselves and happiness to others and duties to others. (Kant was the King of circular reasoning)
There have been many Kant disciples through the last two centuries, but it is ultimately Kant that the atheistic sheep worship -- ironically, because Kant himself was a theist, whose main purpose was to give alleged vindication of a god's presence and authority over morality: god is necessary for the "ideal of the supreme good."
And so we have the superstitious left and right in this country, who've abandoned their minds to their gods of the heavens and universities. The sheep have surrendered their rationality for obedience and irrational doctrines and concomitant self-sacrifice. They have disdain for themselves and, therefore, for all individuals. Their self-loathing projects itself up the rest of us, insisting that we be punished physically for their intellectual misery.
They cannot believe that individuals have efficacy, the ability to understand reality and the ability to be independently happy. They cannot believe that individuals must be left alone. Individuals must be commanded, and individuals must obey. They must serve. They must, ironically, try to make others happy but not themselves.
And, so, they cannot understand individual rights. They cannot understand rights. They do not want rights and they insist that others do not have them either. We are all sheep, after all -- unworthy of rights, waiting for our next commands, waiting to be rightfully slaughtered. Bound sheep do not like unbound sheep.
As long as the vast majority of humanity allows superstition to grip it by the throat and cut off oxygen to the brain, we will not have individual rights. We cannot even discuss it seriously until great gobs of individuals take ideas and themselves and reality seriously. We will continue to live in the Dark Ages as our "modern" brethren and sisters flock to their particular brand of mysticism.
I sometimes wish I could live 300 years hence, when Objectivism has won and young children's mouths gape open as they hear of a time in the 21st century when people, even adults, actually BELIEVED IN GODS!
At least the very thought of such a time and such children makes me smile. And I've seen that gaping mouth on the face of my own lovely daughter. And, oh, how I smile!
Monday, April 05, 2010
236,315 of us (so far) heading to Washington in 10 days
There's a whole passel of us liberty lovers heading to D.C. on April 15. We'd love to have you come with us. We're calling it an "online revolt," because that's how we're getting the word out. Check out the web site at http://www.onlinetaxrevolt.com/.
By the time the 15th gets here, we'll probably be more than 300,000 strong. There'll be a lot of good speakers. It's officially a tax revolt, but most are probably from the Tea Party set.
It ain't an Ayn Rand rally, not yet. But it's a decent start to letting government know who's boss, so we of the objective strain can gain enough time to win the minds of millions of honest people seeking liberty and personal hegemony.
If you can't come along for the ride and fun, I'll be taking lots of photos and report back afterward.
By the time the 15th gets here, we'll probably be more than 300,000 strong. There'll be a lot of good speakers. It's officially a tax revolt, but most are probably from the Tea Party set.
It ain't an Ayn Rand rally, not yet. But it's a decent start to letting government know who's boss, so we of the objective strain can gain enough time to win the minds of millions of honest people seeking liberty and personal hegemony.
If you can't come along for the ride and fun, I'll be taking lots of photos and report back afterward.
I've gone around the sun 50 times
Tomorrow is my 50th birthday, which means I've woken up and met a new day 18,250 times -- a mind-boggling number, really. Where do all those days go? How many thousands of first sips of coffee have I had? How many good books have I read? How many good kisses have I given and received? How many friends have I met, kept and lost?
As a very young child, I remember my gramma's 50th birthday, for some reason. She was old! Yet, now I look at pictures of her when she was 50, and she seems, well, like me, or perhaps a little older since she wasn't in as good a shape.
Movement through life seems to start with measurements in minutes, then hours, then days. As we get older and more forward-planning, they seem to move in weeks, months and years. Gramma would say that she still felt like she was 20 when she was 50. She reminisced about being 20 in the late 1930s, The Depression. As a young child, I couldn't believe or understand that a person who was old felt like she was young.
I understand now. I'm in good health, very good health. My body still responds and feels like it is 20, for the most part, except that it takes a bit longer for soreness to go away and I get a bit stiff if I miss a couple of workouts and stretches. Other than that, I'm stronger than I was 30 years ago, smarter, just as speedy, better organized.
All of my close friends are younger than me, except for my friend Dan, who is five years older. I even have some close friends who are 27, another friend who is 31, another who is 36, another who is 38. People my age seem OLD. They walk slower, their brains are muddled, their midsections are bulbous, they lose their breath easily, they can't wait to retire (I'll never do it). They don't keep up with the latest music, movies, gadgets. They seem to live largely in yesteryear or pine for the easy chair in a decade or so.
It's not just my body that's 20; it's my enthusiasm. I can't wait for today, for tomorrow, for the newest gadget, for a new friend, for a fresh conversation, for that first sip of coffee in the morning, for my next workout, for the next admiring look in the mirror at a body that's the result of decades of commitment, for the next race down the street with my lovely daughter or the next water fight with her and her friends.
The one way that 50 is different from 20 in a major way is my perspective about life, about myself. I'm wiser but not a wiseacre. I don't go around anymore thinking I'm better; I just think I'm good. Life is about living, not comparison. Anxiety has evaporated with the cleansing effect of objectivity, and emotions run pleasantly wild with the knowledge that they are good thing, a very good thing. I'm more fun; people are more fun for me. Life is fun.
When I wake up tomorrow morning, I will have lived 18,250 days. It will the beginning of the next 18,250. I'll take my first sip of coffee and kiss my daughter, Livy.
And perhaps I'll nod at the sun while reading my morning paper and say, "You ready for another 50 times around?"
As a very young child, I remember my gramma's 50th birthday, for some reason. She was old! Yet, now I look at pictures of her when she was 50, and she seems, well, like me, or perhaps a little older since she wasn't in as good a shape.
Movement through life seems to start with measurements in minutes, then hours, then days. As we get older and more forward-planning, they seem to move in weeks, months and years. Gramma would say that she still felt like she was 20 when she was 50. She reminisced about being 20 in the late 1930s, The Depression. As a young child, I couldn't believe or understand that a person who was old felt like she was young.
I understand now. I'm in good health, very good health. My body still responds and feels like it is 20, for the most part, except that it takes a bit longer for soreness to go away and I get a bit stiff if I miss a couple of workouts and stretches. Other than that, I'm stronger than I was 30 years ago, smarter, just as speedy, better organized.
All of my close friends are younger than me, except for my friend Dan, who is five years older. I even have some close friends who are 27, another friend who is 31, another who is 36, another who is 38. People my age seem OLD. They walk slower, their brains are muddled, their midsections are bulbous, they lose their breath easily, they can't wait to retire (I'll never do it). They don't keep up with the latest music, movies, gadgets. They seem to live largely in yesteryear or pine for the easy chair in a decade or so.
It's not just my body that's 20; it's my enthusiasm. I can't wait for today, for tomorrow, for the newest gadget, for a new friend, for a fresh conversation, for that first sip of coffee in the morning, for my next workout, for the next admiring look in the mirror at a body that's the result of decades of commitment, for the next race down the street with my lovely daughter or the next water fight with her and her friends.
The one way that 50 is different from 20 in a major way is my perspective about life, about myself. I'm wiser but not a wiseacre. I don't go around anymore thinking I'm better; I just think I'm good. Life is about living, not comparison. Anxiety has evaporated with the cleansing effect of objectivity, and emotions run pleasantly wild with the knowledge that they are good thing, a very good thing. I'm more fun; people are more fun for me. Life is fun.
When I wake up tomorrow morning, I will have lived 18,250 days. It will the beginning of the next 18,250. I'll take my first sip of coffee and kiss my daughter, Livy.
And perhaps I'll nod at the sun while reading my morning paper and say, "You ready for another 50 times around?"
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Take your iPad, Steve Jobs, and put it where sun don't shine
Apple execs have pissed me off -- and I'm fricking fed up!
First, they've joined some lawsuits against Microsoft on alleged antitrust violations or testified against Microsoft in other immoral lawsuits.
Second, in the last month they've added coding to the iPhone to prevent "jail-breaking," which means that people like me cannot download coding for our phones to get them to do what they already should do, such as having two or more programs up on the phone at one time. That same coding is now on the iPad, which went on sale today in stores, meaning that you can't be checking email and have another browser window open at the same time. This is simply barbaric (so 20th century) and anachronistic that it boggles the mind.
Third, Apple refuses to allow Flash video capability on its iPad, which means that the predominance of videos on the Internet simply can't be played on the iPad.
Fourth, Apple made AT&T its exclusive dealer for the iPhone for three years. This reaped billions of dollars for Apple and forced us consumers to be stuck with the wretched AT&T if we were to have our cherished iPhone.
Fifth, Apple's contract with AT&T allows AT&T to basically charge double for data sending, because you cannot use your iPhone data plan on your iPad. You have to buy another data service. Insane!
Sixth (and this is the most egregious), Apple has used the clout it will inevitably have with the iPad to get book publishers to agree to a new pricing plan for new e-books, increasing the minimum price on e-books to $12.99 from $9.99, which Amazon has amazingly been charging for years. Even Amazon had to buckle to the new competition, which ironically has increased prices instead of decreasing, which usually happens with more competition. The reason for this is that Apple is demanding a bigger profit off the sales (30%). The book publishers will make a tad more, but they like the new price because it's closer to hardback prices, thereby giving e-book readers less incentive to buy the less-profitable e-books. Apple wins; we consumers lose.
So, fuck you, Steve Jobs. And fuck the iPad you rode in on. I'm fed up. You are thankfully free to do as you please with your products, and I'm am miraculously still free to give you the finger and walk away.
Get back to me when you regain your senses, defenestrate pragmatics and put the consumer first.
First, they've joined some lawsuits against Microsoft on alleged antitrust violations or testified against Microsoft in other immoral lawsuits.
Second, in the last month they've added coding to the iPhone to prevent "jail-breaking," which means that people like me cannot download coding for our phones to get them to do what they already should do, such as having two or more programs up on the phone at one time. That same coding is now on the iPad, which went on sale today in stores, meaning that you can't be checking email and have another browser window open at the same time. This is simply barbaric (so 20th century) and anachronistic that it boggles the mind.
Third, Apple refuses to allow Flash video capability on its iPad, which means that the predominance of videos on the Internet simply can't be played on the iPad.
Fourth, Apple made AT&T its exclusive dealer for the iPhone for three years. This reaped billions of dollars for Apple and forced us consumers to be stuck with the wretched AT&T if we were to have our cherished iPhone.
Fifth, Apple's contract with AT&T allows AT&T to basically charge double for data sending, because you cannot use your iPhone data plan on your iPad. You have to buy another data service. Insane!
Sixth (and this is the most egregious), Apple has used the clout it will inevitably have with the iPad to get book publishers to agree to a new pricing plan for new e-books, increasing the minimum price on e-books to $12.99 from $9.99, which Amazon has amazingly been charging for years. Even Amazon had to buckle to the new competition, which ironically has increased prices instead of decreasing, which usually happens with more competition. The reason for this is that Apple is demanding a bigger profit off the sales (30%). The book publishers will make a tad more, but they like the new price because it's closer to hardback prices, thereby giving e-book readers less incentive to buy the less-profitable e-books. Apple wins; we consumers lose.
So, fuck you, Steve Jobs. And fuck the iPad you rode in on. I'm fed up. You are thankfully free to do as you please with your products, and I'm am miraculously still free to give you the finger and walk away.
Get back to me when you regain your senses, defenestrate pragmatics and put the consumer first.
Florida doctor puts up sign: No Obama supporters
The fascists in control of 21st century America will soon have another swastika bill to pass, no doubt, since a Florida urologist has put a sign out in front of his office saying, "If you voted for Obama, seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes in your health care begin right now -- not in four years."
For the first time in my life, I wish I needed urology care, so I could go pay this man my money!
Hell, maybe I'll go anyway. "Well, doc, my penis is doing just fine, thank you. Nope, no pain anywhere. Nope, no constricted flow. Just wanted to shake your hand and pay for a doctor's visit. Oh yeah, by the way, LOVE THE SIGN!"
As you might expect, this sign has got the fascists' panties in a knot, so their legal "experts" are discussing whether the doctor, Jack Cassell of Mount Dora, has broken any laws. So far, the fascists haven't found any. But never fear, they'll make some up soon. Or they'll get canny and send in fascist moles for medical treatment. They'll claim that they got run off by the doctor because they are fascists.
The fascist legal "experts" say the doctor is not allowed to turn down a patient. Yep, that's in the books -- or, so say the fascists wonks.
Anyway, chalk one up as a burr under the fascist saddle. May you live long and prosper, Mr. Cassell, so that perhaps you can extend your marketing campaign to the local billboards!
Groundbreaking work by Harry Binswanger
Top Objectivist Harry Binswanger has created a new groundbreaking audio on methodology concerning the epistemological triumvirate of the objective, subjective and intrinsic, making clear distinctions among them. I think this subject is important because it allows the objective mind to be a better detective in fact gathering and in discerning irrationality in others. I've ordered the audio today from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. The information on it is below. Enjoy.
==================
Ayn Rand Bookstore
==================
New product!
THE OBJECTIVE VS. THE INTRINSIC AND THE SUBJECTIVE by Harry Binswanger
www.aynrandbookstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CB87M
The dismal state of today's intellectual life stems from the lack of a genuine concept of objectivity, the concept for which Objectivism is named.
The essence of Objectivism is not just a championing of objectivity but also the identification of a radically deepened concept of what objectivity is.
In the first lecture, Dr. Binswanger approaches the concept of objectivity by asking Ayn Rand's key question: What facts of reality give rise to the need for such a concept? The answer involves distinguishing the metaphysical from the man-made and the self-evident from the inferred. Then one must recognize the need for a concept ("objective") that goes beyond the simpler concepts of "logical" and "rational."
This leads to Ayn Rand's major contribution to epistemology: her recognition that the law of identity applies to consciousness--to man's means of cognition. Lecture one identifies three facts about the identity of man's consciousness, and discusses how they give rise to new principles of methodology.
Before Ayn Rand, theorists saw only two alternatives: the intrinsic or the subjective--i.e., revelation vs. whim. Either we are to remain mentally passive, hoping The Truth will flow in (intrinsicism), or we are mentally active--by embracing the emotional, the arbitrary, the socially approved (subjectivism). In short, either we relinquish control of our minds (intrinsicism) or we give up reality (subjectivism).
In the second lecture, Dr. Binswanger applies the trichotomy of intrinsic-subjective-objective to identify three corresponding schools of thought on concepts, essences, the good, virtue, the initiation of force, rights, and economic value, showing how, in each case, only the objective school, developed by Ayn Rand, provides a rational understanding of the issue.
(3 hrs.,6 min., with Q & A)
Audio CD; 4-CD set: $41.95
www.aynrandbookstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CB87M
==================
Ayn Rand Bookstore
==================
New product!
THE OBJECTIVE VS. THE INTRINSIC AND THE SUBJECTIVE by Harry Binswanger
www.aynrandbookstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CB87M
The dismal state of today's intellectual life stems from the lack of a genuine concept of objectivity, the concept for which Objectivism is named.
The essence of Objectivism is not just a championing of objectivity but also the identification of a radically deepened concept of what objectivity is.
In the first lecture, Dr. Binswanger approaches the concept of objectivity by asking Ayn Rand's key question: What facts of reality give rise to the need for such a concept? The answer involves distinguishing the metaphysical from the man-made and the self-evident from the inferred. Then one must recognize the need for a concept ("objective") that goes beyond the simpler concepts of "logical" and "rational."
This leads to Ayn Rand's major contribution to epistemology: her recognition that the law of identity applies to consciousness--to man's means of cognition. Lecture one identifies three facts about the identity of man's consciousness, and discusses how they give rise to new principles of methodology.
Before Ayn Rand, theorists saw only two alternatives: the intrinsic or the subjective--i.e., revelation vs. whim. Either we are to remain mentally passive, hoping The Truth will flow in (intrinsicism), or we are mentally active--by embracing the emotional, the arbitrary, the socially approved (subjectivism). In short, either we relinquish control of our minds (intrinsicism) or we give up reality (subjectivism).
In the second lecture, Dr. Binswanger applies the trichotomy of intrinsic-subjective-objective to identify three corresponding schools of thought on concepts, essences, the good, virtue, the initiation of force, rights, and economic value, showing how, in each case, only the objective school, developed by Ayn Rand, provides a rational understanding of the issue.
(3 hrs.,6 min., with Q & A)
Audio CD; 4-CD set: $41.95
www.aynrandbookstore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CB87M
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