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Argumentation

 

Rights, Retribution, and Capital Punishment:

G. Stolyarov II

July 7, 2007:

Mr. Stolyarov responds to Dr. Charles Steele's "An Argument Against Capital Punishment" by addressing capital punishment in the context of the question of whether criminals forfeit their rights, the issue of adequate retribution, and the possibility of wrongful convictions of murderers.

 

Banishment, Imprisonment, Uncertainty, and Capital Punishment:

Dr. Charles N. Steele

July 10, 2007:

Dr. Steele responds to Mr. Stolyarov's "Rights, Retribution, and Capital Punishment" with ideas regarding the feasibility of and proper approaches to banishment and imprisonment as well as the manner in which to treat criminals given the imperfections of the current society and justice system.

 

Economics

 

The Sciences of Human Action (1949):

Ludwig von Mises

July 7, 2007:

Ludwig von Mises writes that there are two main branches of the sciences of human action: praxeology and history. This second chapter of Mises's magnum opus, Human Action, draws the distinction between these two disciplines.

 

Ethics

 

The "Rights" of Animals:

Dr. Murray N. Rothbard

July 7, 2007:

Dr. Murray Rothbard writes that the fundamental flaw in the theory of animal rights is basic and far-reaching. For the assertion of human rights is not properly a simple emotive one; individuals possess rights not because we "feel" that they should, but because of a rational inquiry into the nature of man and the universe. In short, man has rights because they are natural rights.

 

Reasonism:

Kyrel Zantonavitch

July 13, 2007:

Kyrel Zantonavitch introduces a new term to describe a way of looking at the world that has profoundly influenced Western civilization since 600 BC. Reasonism is the intellectual claim that only rationality can correctly, positively, and definitively determine neutral, objective, absolute reality. Reasonism is the argument that only reason leads to certain understanding and unquestionable knowledge.

 

Phylogenesis of Consciousness and Free Will: A Teleological Approach:

Leonid Fainberg

July 13, 2007:

Contemporary philosophy of mind is still living under the deep shadow of the Cartesian and the non-Cartesian mind-body dichotomies. Leonid Fainberg defends the notion that the mind-body dichotomy should be rejected and replaced by the concept of a unique, indivisible mind-body entity (MBE), which represents the essential property of the life itself. Mr. Fainberg argues that the concept of determinism is not applicable to consciousness; but on the other hand, consciousness is not causeless.

 

Politics

 

A Defense of Ariel Sharon's Pullout from Gaza: 

Dr. Charles N. Steele

July 7, 2007:

Dr. Charles Steele fully agrees with Mr. Stolyarov's characterization of Hamas, and believes that in general his point that the Israelis are pressured to retrain themselves is correct. But Dr. Steele has a very different interpretation of Sharon's pullout from Gaza.

 

Green PR Suffers Blowback:

Alan Caruba

July 10, 2007:

To the extent that people are more concerned about a complete hoax than they are about the real critical issues affecting their real lives tells you how successful the bogus theory of the Earth dramatically and suddenly warming in a year, ten years, or a hundred years, has been. Alan Caruba urges us to ensure that American politicians like Sen. Harry Reid, Senator Barbara Boxer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, John McCain, and others do not force some truly horrible legislation through Congress based on the global warming or climate change lie. There is no climate change crisis and, if there was, like all climate phenomena, there is absolutely nothing Americans, Canadians, and the rest of humanity could do.

 

Energy and Climate Ethics in Government:

Paul Driessen

July 13, 2007:

Energy bills currently being debated in the US Congress will do nothing to increase net US energy supplies. Even worse, pending climate change legislation would have no detectable effect on global temperatures – but would have serious adverse effects on the nation’s energy production, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, employment and families.
 

Can You Imagine This Country?:

Dr. Chuck Baldwin

July 13, 2007:

In the minds of the founders, liberty—with all of its intrinsic risks—was more desirable than material prosperity, if that prosperity was accompanied with despotism or collectivism. So strong was their desire that they were willing to give up the latter in order to procure the former for themselves and their posterity.

 

"A guardian can never choose to terminate the life of a person under his protection, for whatever reason and under whatever circumstances. Nor can a guardian allow the 'guarded' to commit acts detrimental to life, health, and moral integrity."

 

~ G. Stolyarov II, "The Incompatibility of Guardianship with the Infliction of Harm"