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Archive | August, 2007

Ethics in Alabama, Anarchy in Baltimore

By on August 30, 2007 0

[cross-posted at Liberty & Power]

1. More about my Krakow trip soon (really!). But in the meantime, here’s the Spooner paper I gave at the Krakow conference. It’s also the paper I’m going to present at the Molinari Society meeting in December.

2. Speaking of the Molinari Society, it’ll be holding its fourth annual Symposium in conjunction with the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association in Baltimore, December 27-30, 2007. Here’s the latest schedule info:

Baltimore waterfront GVIII-4. Saturday, 29 December 2007, 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
Molinari Society symposium: “Anarchy: It’s Not Just a Good Idea, It’s the Law”
Falkland (Fourth Floor), Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, 700 Aliceanna Street

Session 1, 11:15-12:15:
chair: Jennifer McKitrick (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
speaker: Charles Johnson (Molinari Institute)
title: “A Place for Positive Law: A Contribution to Anarchist Legal Theory”
commentator: John Hasnas (Georgetown University)

Session 2, 12:15-1:15:
chair: Carrie-Ann Biondi (Marymount Manhattan College)
speaker: Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)
title: “Inside and Outside Spooner’s Natural Law Jurisprudence”
commentator: Geoffrey Allan Plauché (Louisiana State University)

Also check out the schedules (happily not conflicting) of the AAPSS and ARS. 

Orange Beach 3. The schedule for the Alabama Philosophical Society’s September 21-22 meeting in Orange Beach is also online; Charles and I will be attending that as well, speaking on Vegetarianism and Norms on the Margin and On Making Small Contributions to Evil respectively. It’ll be good to be back at our old venue; Orange Beach and Gulf Shores have been slowly recovering from the onslaught of Hurricane Ivan three years ago, and the conference has been held elsewhere the past three years. (Planning to attend? Tomorrow is the last day to make your hotel reservations at the conference rate.)

Nullify That Self-Externalization, Baby

By on August 27, 2007 10

My favourite Hegel quote:

What Mind Is. From our point of view mind has for its presupposition Nature, of which it is the truth, and for that reason its absolute prius. In this its truth Nature is vanished, and mind has resulted as the ‘Idea’ entered on possession of itself. Here the subject and object of the Idea are one – either is the intelligent unity, the notion. This identity is absolute negativity – for whereas in Nature the intelligent unity has its objectivity perfect but externalized, this self-externalization has been nullified and the unity in that way been made one and the same with itself. Thus at the same time it is this identity only so far as it is a return out of nature.
(Philosophy of Mind § 381.)

In your heart you know he’s right ….

Hwæt the Heck?

By on August 27, 2007 1

Amazon’s description of Christian Wolff’s Real Happiness of a People Under a Philosophical King reads as follows:

1750. This work is demonstrated not only from the nature of things, but from the undoubted experience of the Chinese under their first Founder Fohi, and his illustrious successors, Hoam Ti and Xin Num. Added to this dissertation by way of notes from the other philosophical works of Mr. Wolff, the principles and definition he refers to in this dissertation. Due to the age and scarcity of the original we reproduced, some pages may be spotty, faded or difficult to read. Written in Old English.

Old EnglishOld English? In 1750?

In related news, Miss Teen South Carolina’s geographical concept-poem is enigmatic.

Captains Courageous

By on August 24, 2007 3

On the left is the first DC comic I ever bought. On the right is the first Marvel comic I ever bought.

Two Captain Marvels

Trying to detect a pattern here ….

So Dark the Disappointment of Man

By on August 18, 2007 6

The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre are the two most disappointing tourist destinations in the world, according to this poll.

I can see why the reportedly glacially slow process of ascending the Tower might detract from some tourists’ enjoyment, though I don’t think it would from mine (I’ve been to it but not yet up it).

Louvre galleryBut the Louvre? How could anyone possibly be disappointed by the Louvre?

My guess? These tourists march in to see the Mona Lisa, find a smaller-than-expected painting behind plexiglass and obscured by a clot of viewers, are disappointed by that, and march out without seeing much else.

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