http://rationalanimal.net Reason, Individualism, Voluntaryism Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:44:13 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” - Aristotle I've gotten into a couple of discussions with people who disliked the idea that happiness is the ultimate goal in life. I'm writing this to give a brief explanation of what I ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/06/15/happiness/ Back when I was still pretty much a straight line Objectivist, I had heard several criticisms of libertarianism. Libertarians are inconsistent, they said. They view liberty as axiomatic, some of them are altruists and collectivists, and some of them (gasp!) are even anarchists! Of course now, being an anarchist, I find ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/06/06/philosophy-and-libertarianism/ So the more I think about the idea of virtue ethics, the more the idea makes sense to me. For those unfamiliar with the idea, I recommend the Wikipedia article on the matter, which defines virtue ethics as "a branch of moral philosophy that emphasizes character, rather than rules or consequences, ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/06/03/more-on-virtue-ethics/ A common argument I hear from socialists (both anarchist and statist) is that libertarians seek to impose the market onto people against their will. To me, this reveals a fundamental misunderstanding regarding what the market is. The market is an abstraction and does not refer to something that is deliberately implemented. ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/05/10/what-do-socialism-and-intelligent-design-have-in-common/ If you've ever openly admitted to not voting, one classic refrain you've no doubt heard is "If you don't vote, you can't complain," or "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain," or some variation thereof. The implication, of course, is that by not expressing your opinion via ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/05/08/if-you-vote-you-cant-complain/ So lately I've been listening to Roderick T. Long's lecture series Foundations of Libertarian Ethics (available for free on Mises.org), and while I don't agree with Mr. Long on everything, he has certainly given me quite a bit to think about. For example, he brings up how there are two types ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/05/03/thoughts-on-constitutive-means-and-egoism/ The video I am responding to is located here. This is a response to an Objectivist giving what are pretty standard Randian criticisms of anarcho-capitalism. I'll provide some quotations from the video and where I take issue with them. "The political goal of both anarcho-capitalists and Objectivists is to ban the initiation ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/04/22/response-to-d4rkreaver13s-anarcho-capitalism-an-objectivists-critique/ I'm sure that, like me, most of you have seen some political buzz on the internet regarding Net Neutrality. For those that haven't, Net Neutrality is essentially a form of state regulation that requires internet service providers provide equal access to all parts of the internet, disallowing them from restricting ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/04/16/net-neutrality-is-irrelevant/ So I just took this internet quiz on quizfarm.com that allegedly determines what kind of anarchist you are. What kind of Anarchist are you? created with QuizFarm.com You scored as Anarcho-Capitalist Anarcho-capitalism is perhaps more closely linked the libertarian tradition than anarchism as it favours a free market and a stateless society. Private businesses ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/04/13/anarcho-quiz/ I've noticed that it's become popular for people to say things like "I don't support the war, but I do support our troops." This always seemed strange to me; imagine if someone said "I don't support murder, but I do support our murderers." You'd think he'd gone crazy, and rightly ... http://rationalanimal.net/2008/04/12/dont-support-the-troops/