tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5495065931245897039.post8729377207958349042..comments2024-02-27T15:47:47.923-05:00Comments on Principled Perspectives: Books -- Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyrannyprincipled perspectiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06502754865268315342noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5495065931245897039.post-58430297636745495722009-06-08T20:45:05.807-04:002009-06-08T20:45:05.807-04:00Harold;
Thanks for the links and the comments. I&...Harold;<br /><br />Thanks for the links and the comments. I'm familiar with Ghate's excellent presentation, but not Thorn's. I'll definitely be reading his essay.principled perspectiveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06502754865268315342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5495065931245897039.post-84721064722540335662009-06-08T13:59:47.042-04:002009-06-08T13:59:47.042-04:00"Is it possible that there is no Natural Law ...<i>"Is it possible that there is no Natural Law and man can know moral order and unalienable rights from his own reasoning, unaided by the supernatural or God?"</i><br><br> Typical. The problem here is that this is inherently subjectivist. That is, we are told that morality comes from some extra-dimensional <i>consciousness</i> and not the <i>fact of man's nature</i> as a being of volitional consciousness possessing the conceptual factulty of reason. Levin would be well served by Anton Thorn's <a href="http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Sparta/1019/Thorn2.html" rel="nofollow">Objectivist Atheology</a>.<br /><br /><i>"Thus, Mr. Levin declares that capitalism cannot be defended rationally—i.e., by means of reason. He reaches this conclusion by means of the back door…he invalidates reason."</i><br><br> Exactly, and this gives ammunition to statists who then declare that reasonable people recognize the necessity of a dictatorship. He then says:<br /><br /><i>"And he has a duty as a citizen to contribute voluntarily to the welfare of his community through good works."</i><br><br> But if politics stem from some ethical base (and they do), then the liberals are just being consistent and not leaving the issue up to personal choice.<br /><br /><i>" Primary among those flawed “traditions” is the altruist morality, which the Founders inherited by default, even as they signed the document containing the famous words that have as their implicit premise the moral code of rational egoism … the individual’s unalienable right to his own life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness."</i><br><br> Yes, great as they were, they were also men with mixed premises. Are you familiar with Onkar Ghate's <a href="http://atlasshrugged.com/book/americas-second-declaration.html" rel="nofollow">presentation</a> on the founders and the "Sermon on the Mount"?<br /><br />Haven't read the book, but I guess if you stand on one leg, hop up and down, and squint in bad lighting, you might be able to kinda-sorta defend freedom this way. Unbelievable.<br /><br /><br />Great commentary.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10897769844874861468noreply@blogger.com