July 11, 2014
Is a Nation a House?
Closed border advocates sometimes make the following argument: You aren’t obligated to let poor Haitians live in your house or camp on your lawn. Even though they desperately need your help…
Author: Jason Brennan
July 10, 2014
Why Not Close Even More Borders?
The main arguments for closed borders are: Immigrants will cause crime Immigrants will lower domestic wages Immigrants are less cultured or educated; or will sully our culture. Immigrants are poor…
July 09, 2014
Can We Pay You $25 to Think of a Better Title for Our Paper?
Peter Jaworski and I recently had a paper accepted at Ethics on the question of commodification. (This paper is part of our larger project, Markets without Limits.) In the paper, we attack what…
July 09, 2014
The Dominance Argument for Capitalism
In the past 30 years at least, we’ve seen that arguments about markets vs. socialism in philosophy inevitably turn to arguments about the methodology of philosophy. In particular, we see…
June 27, 2014
Why Proponents of Compulsory Voting Bear the Burden of Proof
In my debate with Lisa Hill about compulsory voting, I am both at a disadvantage and an advantage, much like John Simmons was in his debate with Kit Wellman about…
June 26, 2014
On Killing Government Leaders, with a Quotation from Jeff McMahan on the Ethics of Killing in War
Jeff McMahan truly excellent book Killing in War challenges the doctrine of the moral equality of combatants in war. According to this widely held view, soldiers in a war have equal permission…