Response by David Ross and Others
This commentary is part of The Atlas Society's 1999 online "CyberSeminar" entitled " The Continental Origins of Postmodernism ."
Feb 28, 2011
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This commentary is part of The Atlas Society's 1999 online "CyberSeminar" entitled " The Continental Origins of Postmodernism ."
This commentary is part of The Atlas Society's 1999 online "CyberSeminar" entitled " The Continental Origins of Postmodernism .
This commentary is part of The Atlas Society's 1999 online "CyberSeminar" entitled " The Continental Origins of Postmodernism ."
Photographer Daniella Zalcman captures a day in the life of entrepreneur Yoanne Magris, a French chef who has parlayed her culinary passion into owning and operating an East Harlem bistro called "Yo In Yo Out." Magris, a whirlwind of productivity, also runs a successful catering business, which includes working three days a week as a private chef for a New York City family. Last fall, Magris competed in the Food Network's popular show Chopped.
Winter 2010 -- In turbulent times like ours, many individuals retreat into a better, fictitious inner world. Some imagine an ancient, Atlantis-like Golden Age. Others live in an internet Sim City game realm. Still others dream of an idyllic, interplanetary sci-fi fantasy future.
The events of September 11 have changed the political landscape in America. Traditional political groups—progressive, liberal, conservative, and libertarian—have found themselves deeply split over the terrorist attacks and the war.
The Freeman recently published an excellent article on so-called insider trading: “ Inside Insider Trading ,” by Warren C. Gibson . Aptly enough, the article is illustrated with a picture of Martha Stewart—who was not prosecuted for insider trading.
The Freeman recently published an excellent article on so-called insider trading: “ Inside Insider Trading ,” by Warren C. Gibson . Aptly enough, the article is illustrated with a picture of Martha Stewart—who was not prosecuted for insider trading.
Doug Bandow, a senier fellow at the Cato Institute, recently had an excellent article in Forbes on insider trading, giving special attention to the Rajaratnam case. http://www.forbes.com/2011/01/20/legalize-insider-trading-economics-opinions-contributors-doug-bandow.html spiderID=1293
Jan/Feb 2008 -- Think playing competitive sports is tough? Sure, the pain of a jarring tackle or the exhaustion after a grueling marathon can push an athlete to the limit. Compared to the business world, however, the pain these individuals go through is slight.
January, 2001 -- In the culture wars of our time, the culture that shaped our world has had no voice.
Whenever I discuss environmental crimes, it seems, I am confronted with a parade of horribles: “Suppose a businessman dumps toxic waste on his property that leaches into the water supply, killing everybody in the area and making the region uninhabitable forever. How can tort law possibly deal with that?”
“Robin” Hood (as he is known here in my home state) was referring to State Farm Insurance. Hearing him utter such inanities was not that shocking to me, however, since he has made similar statements repeatedly. Following the lead of Mike Moore, his predecessor in the A.G.’s office, Hood gets a lot of air time by painting big business as evil and dastardly. What Mike Moore did to Big Tobacco, “Robin” Hood hopes to do to State Farm and the insurance industry.
Nowadays this comes across as downright cruelty (as well as downright stupidity), but I understand that this treatment of him was derived from her overvaluation of supposed intellectual consistency in the conduct of daily life. For Rand, there was no ambiguity in the world: if it is true that man has free will and is responsible for his conduct, it cannot also be that there is a condition such as dementia that robs a man of his capacity for choice. Hence her husband’s lapses were wilful and deliberate. At least they were to her. Do modern day Objectivists believe this is the correct and proper way to deal with those suffering from dementia?
Objectivism holds that for each person his own life is his ultimate value. Morally, the greatest thing one can do is to live robustly and to keep living. Happiness, in the Objectivist view, is the emotional experience of living well. Happiness is not a state one achieves, but the experience one has in the process of living a flourishing, robust life. Happiness is a complex emotion, involving many rather different subsidiary emotions, such as contentment, confidence, satisfaction, excitement, joy, and good cheer. These emotions generally proceed from achieving one's values, as when one feels joy and satisfaction over completing an important project, or as when one feels content after a good dinner. Happiness also proceeds from one's self-esteem, one's general sense that one is competent and worthy to be successful in life.
Objectivism opposes government entitlements that are based on the idea that one person's need is a moral claim that on the productive effort of another. Need is not a claim on wealth, in the Objectivist view.
Question: Why are a person's principles more important than the law? Answer: A person's principles are his means of integrating his knowledge about the world. So when we say "principles," we are speaking of both his knowledge of facts in general and his moral knowledge, about what is of value to him and what he and others ought to do in various contexts.
Question: How could an Objectivist rationalize his gossiping if the gossiping is performed to discredit another person?
Question: How might an Objectivist engage in deep reflection and contextual conversation with a person who has been thoroughly steeped in a Judeo-Christian ethic of compassionate servanthood? Answer: You have the most important step already—namely, keep contextual. In other words, remember the context from which this person is speaking. Remember that he may mean something different than you do when he uses words like “faith” or “compassion”. And remember that even though he has embraced a Judeo-Christian ethic, he may not have embraced a fully Judeo-Christian metaphysics. He could hold something of a hodgepodge of different ideas. Being contextual entails discovering the fuller context of what someone means so you can thereby actually engage with their ideas—and not with what you are assuming their ideas to be.
Question: Why is Martha Stewart's insider trading only bad because it is prohibited? I thought that capitalism needed a free and open market with multiple buyers and sellers or else the market function itself would be in danger; buyers and sellers could not trust it. Insider trading destroys that market function and seems therefore bad in itself. Answer: First, Martha Stewart was not convicted of insider trading. She was convicted of lying to federal law-enforcement agents. However, the underlying reason for her prosecution was an accusation of insider trading.