History
- Interview: Robert Garmong on Censorship in China: 18 Sep 2013
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Summary: How does censorship work in China? What can ordinary people access or not? What is the Chinese government most concerned to conceal? What are the consequences of speaking out? What do ordinary people think of the censorship? Robert Garmong, an American living and working in China, will answer these questions and more.
Tags: Censorship, China, Culture, Free Speech, Government, History, Rights
- Interview: Eric Daniels on Why Small Government Isn't the Answer: 31 Jul 2013
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Summary: Is "big government" the fundamental problem of American politics? Historian Eric Daniels will explain why this common formulation is misleading, wrong, and even dangerous to liberty.
Tags: Activism, America, Anarchism, Crime, Culture, Epistemology, Government, History, Law, Libertarianism, Politics, Racism, Rights, Self-Defense, Sexism
- Q&A: Romanticizing Historical Figures in Art: 28 Jul 2013, Question 2
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Question: Are there moral limits to romanticizing historical figures in art? For example, a writer might romanticize Robin Hood as the Ragnar Danneskjöld of the Middle Ages. If this is proper, is there an ethical limit as to what kinds of persons one may or may not romanticize, or as to how far one may stretch the historic truth? For example, does it matter if there are still contemporaries of that historic person alive who suffered unjustly because of him? Would it be wrong to ignore some unpleasant facts in order to present a fictionalized heroic character?
- Interview: Scott Powell on History is Dead, Long Live History: 17 Jul 2013
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Summary: Why is knowledge of history important? How have historians failed to teach it? What's the proper approach? How can adults educate themselves about history?
Tags: Academia, America, American Revolution, Children, Economics, Education, Epistemology, Great Depression, Herodotus, History, Thucydides
- Q&A: Today's Feminist Movement: 14 Jul 2013, Question 1
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Question: How should the feminist movement be judged? Do today's feminist causes have any merit? Or is the feminist movement merely seeking special favors for women at the expense of men – perhaps even via violations of the rights of men? If the movement is mixed, how should it be judged, overall? Should better feminists eschew the movement due to its flaws – or attempt to change it from within? Can advocates of reason, egoism, and capitalism ally themselves with selected feminist causes without promoting the worse elements thereof?
Tags: Activism, Culture, Feminism, History, Law, Politics, Politics, Rights, Sexism
- Q&A: Taxes Versus Slavery: 12 May 2013, Question 1
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Question: Are high taxes comparable to slavery? On Facebook, some friends suggest that America is becoming more like Nazi Germany. Others share images comparing Americans workers to slaves picking cotton in the antebellum south due to our ever-higher taxes. I think these comparisons go way too far: Americans are still some of the freest people the world has ever known. No doubt, our freedom is being chipped away, but are we really like slaves?
Tags: Activism, Apocalypticism, Epistemology, Government, History, Language, Politics, Slavery, Taxes
- Interview: John P. McCaskey on Libertarianism's Moral Shift: 10 Apr 2013
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Summary: As the libertarian movement has become more mainstream in recent decades, its justification for liberty has changed. How so – and is that change for the better? Is the libertarian movement today capable of offering a vigorous and compelling defense of liberty?
Tags: America, Conflicts of Interest, Egalitarianism, Ethics, Friedrich Hayek, History, John Rawls, Libertarianism, Objectivism, Politics, Rights
- Q&A: Solutions to Widespread Racism: 20 Jan 2013, Question 1
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Question: Should the government intervene when widespread racism makes life impossible for some people? Given that the effect of strictly respecting the rights of private property owners in the South was that blacks could not find accommodations, health care, transportation, food, and other basic necessities of life, shouldn't the government have intervened? Didn't civil rights legislation help eliminate racism – and wasn't that a good thing – even if that meant violating the right to property of racists?
Tags: Activism, Capitalism, Culture, Discrimination, Economics, Ethics, Free Society, History, Law, Race, Racism
- Q&A: Right to Work Laws: 16 Dec 2012, Question 1
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Question: Do right-to-work laws violate or protect rights? Some states are attempting to pass "right to work" laws, despite massive union opposition. Under such laws, employers cannot require employees to be a member of a union – as often happens due to federal law. These laws aim to empower employees against unwelcome unions. Are these laws legitimate – perhaps as defense against unjust federal law or a step toward freedom of contract? Or are they indefensible because they violate the rights of employers to dictate the terms of employment?
Tags: Activism, Business, Contracts, Ethics, Free Society, Government, History, Law, Rights, Unions, Work
- Interview: Dr. Sasha Volokh on Taking Stock of Tort Law: 7 Nov 2012
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Summary: What is tort law? What are its basic principles? What are some of the most interesting debates in tort law? Do some torts conflict with freedom of speech? What, if any, proposals for tort reform are worthy of support? In this interview, law professor Sasha Volokh discussed the nature, value, and limitations of tort law.
Tags: Defamation, History, Law, Rights, Torts
- Q&A: Chivalry as a Virtue: 16 Sep 2012, Question 3
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Question: Is chivalry virtuous? In the Aurora Masacre, three men died in the process of physically shielding their girlfriends from the gunfire. Is that kind of sacrifice noble? More generally, does chivalry have any place in an ethic of rational egoism?
Tags: Chivalry, Emergencies, Ethics, History, Integrity, Religion, Sacrifice, Sexism, Virtue
- Interview: Alex Epstein on How Coal and Oil Improve Our Lives: 12 Sep 2012
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Summary: Does the energy industry – particularly coal and oil – harm humans and destroy the environment? Are they necessary evils? Or are they positive goods?
Tags: Activism, Business, Energy, Environmentalism, Ethics, History, Philosophy, Pollution, Progress, Rights
- Interview: Dr. Eric Daniels on Progress in American History: 5 Sep 2012
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Summary: Many people on the political right regard America as steadily decaying since the founding era. Yet in fact, America has improved in many ways – not just in technology, but also in its culture, economy, and laws.
Tags: America, Culture, Elections, Ethics, History, Honor Ethics, Law, Politics, Progress, Regulations, Rights