The Gun Control Debate in One Advertisement

This disturbing video is worth watching, because I think it encapsulates much of the consequentalist side of American gun control debate: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUAL6ie1ufc] Gun control proponents think: More and better gun…

Rand and the Drowning Child

UPDATE 1: It’s probably worth reading this article by Feinberg, which explains why self-interest ≠ whatever you happen to care about. See also the “Further Update” below before making a…

Libertarianism and Parental Licensing

Back in December of 2011, I posted “Licensing Parents,” defending a view Hugh LaFollette had introduced into philosophical literature in 1980: that the state should license parents (LaFollette further defended…

Rand, Egoism, and Rights: To Be Clear

I recently wrote the following: Rand’s [moral] theory does forbid human sacrifice, but only contingently. Ethical egoists are committed to the view that if raping, dismembering, and murdering some other…