Monthly Archives: February 2009
The Moral Importance of Autonomy and Responsibility
Crispin Sartwell on how collective action lightens the perceived burden of moral responsibility. I am reminded of a gobbit from Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress: “Under what circumstances is it moral for a group to do that which … Continue reading
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Dog gone fair!
Experiments show dogs have a sense of fairness and conceptions of justice and an overlapping consensus: Recent research indicates that non-human primates refuse to participate in cooperative problem-solving tasks if they witness a conspecific obtaining a more attractive reward for … Continue reading
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Sober Thoughts
From Peter Boettke, quoting Sophie Scholl, the leader of a resistance group in Nazi Germany: “The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who … Continue reading
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Taking Progress For Granted
Kevin Kelly at the Technium has a great clip from Conan O’Brian. I don’t know who this comedian is, but he does a wonderful job satirizing ingratitude.
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Marc Andreessen On…Everything
Great Charlie Rose interview with Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen. My favorite part has to be his advice to newspapers: “It’s over. Kill the print edition.”
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Wilkinson On Limited Government
A very wise post. He makes the distinction between small government and limited government and then argues for the importance of the latter. I think this takes us to another sense of “limited government” as “limited to what non-government alternatives … Continue reading
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A Reasonable Anarchy
I have found a new term with which to define my political philosophy. This comes as a surprise, because I inadvertently stumbled upon it while searching for the title of Jedediah Purdy’s new book, A Tolerable Anarchy. Disappointed, because the phrase … Continue reading
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Dambisa Moyo: Remember Live Aid? It should be Dead Aid
Words of wisdom from Ms. Moyo in the Q&A section of NYTimes Magazine: Q: You argue in your book that Western aid to Africa has not only perpetuated poverty but also worsened it, and you are perhaps the first African … Continue reading
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All Hail Vaclav Klaus!
The irony of the 21st century is that soon the Eastern Europeans will begin persuading the West to loosen the bonds of their socialist governments. Speak, President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus: We must say openly that the present economic … Continue reading
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Richard Epstein at Forbes
Richard Epstein, my old professor of Roman Law (Spring 2003!) has consistently hit bull’s-eyes at Forbes.com, where he seems to have become a regular contributor: The jaded Libertarian always marvels at how taxes go down when the interest groups that … Continue reading
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