The
Rational Argumentator
Issue XXVI
August 31 - September 26, 2004
G. Stolyarov II
August 31, 2004
During its second year of existence, TRA has achieved impressive progress and efficiency. This statement of purpose details TRA's past successes and establishes new policies and goals for an even more productive, tolerant, and intellectual future.
Argumentation
Schieder v. Stolyarov: An Abortion Debate - Round 3:
Manfred F. Schieder and G. Stolyarov II
August 31, 2004
Manfred F. Schieder and G. Stolyarov II offer the latest set of claims and rebuttals in this extensive debate concerning the filosofical and political facets of the abortion issue.
Filosofy
Human Nature According to Niccolo Machiavelli, Karl Marx, and Ayn Rand:
Jonathan Rick
September 10, 2004
Jonathan Rick compares three renowned filosofers' perceptions of the essential identity of men, and of their greatly varying perceptions of human dignity and potential.
Shelf Life:
Michael Miller
September 10, 2004
What distinguishes ideas with eternal value to man from efemera whose significance passes with time? Michael Miller formulates an answer.
Principles of Extropy:
Max More
September 21, 2004
Dr. Max More presents an evolving framework of values and standards for continuously improving the human condition, explaining the desirability of perpetual technological and individual progress in an open society.
My Confession and Apology:
Reginald Firehammer
September 26, 2004
During the past months, the once tolerant SoloHQ website has steadily succumed to the exclusionist, authoritarian policies of editor Lindsay Perigo. Dissent and debate have been stifled, and anyone who disagreed with Perigo, especially on the issue of homosexual marriage, has been "put under moderation," i.e., banned. Reginald Firehammer writes of his own excommunication from SoloHQ and what it reveals about Perigo's mindset.
Historical Analysis
Machiavelli and Erasmus Compared:
G. Stolyarov II
September 16, 2004
Two renowned thinkers of the Renaissance served as founders of two virtually opposite schools, humanism and pragmatism. G. Stolyarov II contrasts the writings of Erasmus and Machiavelli and formulates their filosofical differences and the implications thereof.
Music
A Review of Christopher Schlegel's Piano Waltzes:
G. Stolyarov II
September 4, 2004
Objectivist composer Christopher Schlegel has written 24 piano waltzes, one in each major and minor key, which serve as a model for contemplative elegance and the revival of high musical culture within our time. G. Stolyarov II reviews these works.
A Review of Christopher Schlegel's "Symphony #6: The Values of Man":
G. Stolyarov II
September 16, 2004
G. Stolyarov II reviews Mr. Schlegel's second endeavor to musically represent the foundations of the Objectivist ethics. The Values of Man is a massive work that offers a wide variety of perspectives on the experience of man as man deserves to be.
Poetry
On Poetic Clarity:
G. Stolyarov II
September 10, 2004
In a clear, precise, rhyming poem, G. Stolyarov II explains why poetry should be explicit and utterly unambiguous in its message.
Politics
To Outsource or to Stagnate?:
Onkar Ghate
September 15, 2004
Dr. Onkar Ghate explains why the recent outsourcing of jobs is another manifestation of economic freedom and increasing economic efficiency, and why stifling it would result in economic retrogression and a curtailment of potential progress.
Abolish the FCC:
Robert Garmong
September 16, 2004
In the rush to grant the FCC greater control over broadcasters, argues Dr. Robert Garmong, no one has noticed that the FCC's very existence is a violation of free speech.
"There cannot be greater rudeness than to interrupt another in the current of his discourse."
~ John Locke