Category: Ethics/Metaethics

Homo homini lupus

Post author By jon
Post date April 7, 2022

Recent events have stirred in me some thoughts about evil.

For an atheist I spend a, probably unhealthy, amount of time thinking about theodicy. The below may also make it clear why I am comfortable using terms like evil and virtue from a non-religious perspective.

I think all of these have some truth to them (and all are problematic) – and I suspect we could point to examples of all of them, even just in the context of Ukraine. But some, I think, are easier for modernist, rationalist (decent?) people to get their heads around. Some are much less comfortable. This is endlessly fascinating to me.

We may think ourselves secure – but there it is, the dark shape at the door, it seeps through the floor like radon. There is no limit to the limits of our rational power. Evil is a Thing that can ignite, all by itself.

Books Ethics/Metaethics Nonfiction Philosophy Reviews

Review: Evil in Modern Thought

Post author By jon
Post date October 30, 2020

By Susan Neiman (2002)

If I described this as an serious academic work of philosophy arguing how the Problem of Evil (is suffering deserved?) did not disappear into theology in the 18th century – you might not think it’s a exactly a page-turner. But it’s gripping!

A brilliant explanation of Kant’s intention, or an even more brilliant novelty. The tragedy of contingency, and the comedy of there being no limits to the number of things that can go wrong.

Books Ethics/Metaethics Philosophy Rand Rand & Nabokov

Amateur philosophical background: the ethics

Post author By jon
Post date July 22, 2014

In this second philosophical preamble to actually starting talking about The Fountainhead, I’m going to give an overview of the more relevant part of Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, the ethics.

Unlike the epistemology, which has a very ad-hoc vibe to it, it’s hard to dispute that Rand’s system of values was present (in increasing degrees) in her earlier novels, until it came to dominate her magnum opus Atlas Shrugged. The length of the novels, and the volume of speechifying, correlates with this. Rand published a distillation of her position in The Virtue of Selfishness in 1961 (predating the epistemology), and it’s this we’ll draw on.

Books Epistemology Ethics/Metaethics Philosophy Rand

Being “reasonable”: what’s worth salvaging from Rand’s epistemology?

Post author By jon
Post date July 22, 2014

Given the critical tone of my last posts, the main motive for my overview of the Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology would seem to be scorn. On the negative side, as well as a the expected deep inconsistencies I was genuinely surprised to find how many straight-up contradictions I found when I started to tabulate Rand’s claims against other types of philosophical system: a particularly perplexing one is her attitude to measurement, which she simultaneously suggests is unnecessary and the only way essential characteristics can be compared.

But I maintain that we need to give credit when it’s due, and try to find the sensible equivalents of Rand’s positions – she is after all mimicking the greats.

Epistemology Ethics/Metaethics Philosophy Rand

Amateur philosophical background: the “epistemology”

Post author By jon
Post date July 22, 2014

“Mathematics is the science of measurement” – Ayn Rand, An Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology

Before I jump (or sink) into The Fountainhead, I thought I’d put together an (amateurish) primer on Ayn Rand’s philosophy in two parts. The first will deal with what she calls her “epistemology” – something that is usually understood as a means of knowing. The second will deal with the ethics. In each case, I’ve taken most of Rand’s material from her own words – if you want to follow along here, this is all taken from her book, An Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. I’m also indebted to the wonderful Partially Examined Life podcast’s episode on Rand – I’d highly recommend this for a professional touch – and the rest of their episodes too, for that matter.

Archive