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Ayn Rand acknowledged Aristotle as the only thinker to whom she owed a “philosophical debt.” But Rand’s Aristotle was, in at least one instance, really Albert Jay Nock’s Aristotle, as this footnote in Jennifer Burns’s Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right reveals:
Her late use of Aristotle was often inaccurate. According to [...]
Filed under: Books
The GOP might do reasonably well next week, with Republican Bob McDonnell set to coast to victory in Virginia’s gubernatorial contest, though I suspect New Jersey might again (as always) dash the party’s hopes. I suspect Democratic incumbent John Corzine will pull through in the Garden State. I have no idea what will happen in [...]
This article gets a lot right — the death of newspapers has been exaggerated. They still sell, though sales are falling, and they’re still profitable. The smart ones are becoming more profitable even as sales decline — in other words, they have a product that has been underpriced until now. What’s happening to the newspaper [...]
Filed under: Technology, media
No, but this is what people who connect Hobbes and liberalism have in mind (from de Jasay’s masterpiece, The State):
Recalling the regimes of Walpole, Metternich, Melbourne or Louis Philippe (only more so), with a blend of indifference, benign neglect and a liking for amenities and comforts, the capitalist state must have sufficient hauteur not to [...]
Filed under: Books, Conservatism, Liberty, Philosophy
Very interesting piece on Thomas Hobbes in The Nation, all the more interesting for being a blend of fairly astute political philosophy and a hard-left political agenda. I’ve been intending to read up on the Hobbes literature — in the past few weeks I’ve acquired Hobbes on Civil Association (Oakeshott), Hobbes and Republican Liberty (Skinner, [...]
Filed under: Books, Conservatism, Liberty, Philosophy
A colleague is trying out the Kindle, which has inevitably made me want one, despite my skepticism. But I’m not sold yet: its browser capabilities have received bad reviews, and the function I would chiefly use an e-book reader for, reading free PDF books, is only available with the $489 Kindle DX. (Yes, I know [...]
Filed under: Books, Technology, academia