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An Introduction to Libertarianism
Libertarians seem bizarre and heartless to outsiders. It has been decried as a infantile and underdeveloped political philosophy, but it traces its origins back at least 300 years. But what are classical liberalism or libertarianism's foundations of thought?
In a previous article, I outlined 5 foundations of moral judgements: Harm/Care, Fairness ( Read more... ) -
Should the government force non-discrimination?
A friend of mine posted the following article, which I thought about for a bit and decided to respond ( Read more... ) -
Returns to Scale
Returns to Scale is a way to describe what happens to a production process when you add more of one factor of production. There are three types of returns - increasing, decreasing and constant ( Read more... ) -
Vae Victis
Woe to the vanquished. Might makes right. Throughout history there have been many ideologies, but in the end only one that matters: power. If you can kill someone, you have total power over them. The same applies to groups. There is no way to argue it, since ultimately, those with power can simply kill those who try more subtle arguments. I ( Read more... ) -
Defending the Indefensible
Prerequisites: Unintended Consequences, Human Action, Understanding Competition, When is Trade Beneficial?
Economists are eternally tasked with defending the indefensible counterintuitive things that seem bad but may have hidden benefits. Indeed many economists consider the chief task of economics to explain the unintended consequences of actions ( Read more... ) -
Moral Foundations Theory
I have been reading and pondering Johnathan Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory for the past couple of days. The basic idea is this - there are five foundations upon which all cultures base their moral judgments:
"1) Harm/care, related to our long evolution as mammals with attachment systems and an ability to feel (and dislike) the pain of others. ( Read more... ) -
Types of Relationships
Today, we're going to take a journey into the world of anthropology. I have written before on the topic of violent orders. Society would be a harsh place if those were the only type of relationships out there, but fortunately there are other types. Alan Fiske, an anthropology professor at UCLA, wrote that there are 4 relationship types that ( Read more... ) -
Why do we have welfare? (part 2)
One possible reason why welfare only extends to state boarders is that welfare is better constrained by democratic institutions. Foreign welfare is not accountable to any voters and so it is inefficient. Money going to foreign governments that are hostile may be used against the donor country - look at how money going to "nation build" in ( Read more... ) -
Some cool links related to my current essay topic (with commentary)
Read/Watch first, then read my commentary. Otherwise it won't make sense ( Read more... ) -
Why do we have welfare?
Proponents of welfare claim it is done because it is a moral obligation for society to help poor. Does this explanation make sense? Is it consistent with moral theory and empirical observation?
Thomas Aquinas divided justice into two parts: commutative and distributive. The rules of commutative justice are precise and accurate. They concern ( Read more... )