https://wiki.objectivismonline.com/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Bearster&feedformat=atomObjectivism Wiki - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T13:01:30ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.39.2https://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Virtues&diff=46Virtues2004-06-28T05:48:49Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>Rationality - this is the cardinal virtue, which leads to all other virtues. Rationality means using reason (and rejecting emotions) to identify reality.<br />
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Honesty means keeping one's words true to reality.<br />
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Integrity is honesty in action.<br />
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Productivity means working to create value.<br />
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Independence means using one's own reason to think, value, judge and act.<br />
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Pride is the belief that one is capable of gaining and keeping one's values--and that one deserves it.<br />
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Justice is the principle of seeking that people get what they deserve; productive men keep the products of their labor, violators of others' rights get punished.</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:Certainty&diff=14Talk:Certainty2004-06-28T05:35:37Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>Does the fact that water boils at 200 degrees on a mountaintop show that it is an error to say that water boils at 212 at sea level?<br />
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I don't think that one's certain conclusions become wrong when new things are learned. I think one differentiates between two contexts that one previously had no reason to differentiate.</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Certainty&diff=15Certainty2004-06-28T05:34:03Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>Following the definition in OPAR ch. 5, certainty refers to a particular point on the continuum of knowledge: 'A conclusion is "certain" when the evidence in its favor is conclusive...the total of the available evidence points in a single direction...there is nothing to suggest even the possibility of another interpretation. There are, therefore, no longer any grounds for doubt.' (OPAR p. 179).<br />
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It is important in Objectivist epistemology that [[arbitrary]] statements not automatically render certainty impossible: any doubt which prevents a conclusion from being certain must be based on the application of reason to observation, and not just imagining "it could be otherwise".<br />
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Because certainty is a knowledge state and knowledge is contextual, a "certain" conclusion may eventually be shown to be in error, when further relevant facts become known.</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Certainty&diff=11Certainty2004-06-28T05:28:38Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>Following the definition in OPAR ch. 5, certainty refers to a particular point on the continuum of knowledge: 'A conclusion is "certain" when the evidence in its favor is conclusive...the total of the available evidence points in a single direction...there is nothing to suggest even the possibility of another interpretation. There are, therefore, no longer any grounds for doubt.' (OPAR p. 179).<br />
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It is important in Objectivist epistemology that [[arbitrary]] statements not automatically render certainty impossible: any doubt which prevents a conclusion from being certain must be based on the application of reason to observation, and not just imagining "it could be otherwise".<br />
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Because certainty is a knowledge state and knowledge is contextual, a "certain" conclusion may eventually be shown to be in error, when further relevant facts become known.<br />
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Does the fact that water boils at 200 degrees on a mountaintop show that it is an error to say that water boils at 212 at sea level? -- Bearster</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Capitalism&diff=223Capitalism2004-06-28T04:52:31Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>There are exactly two ways for men to deal with other men. The first is by force, and the second is by reason, which in practice means by voluntary trade. For examples of the former, look at the anarchism of the period after the fall of Rome but before Feudalism ruled Europe, Christian rule after that point, fascist rule, communist rule, Muslim rule, tribal rule, etc.<br />
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The second is known as capitalism. It is the only social system based on a rational, usable moral code, namely that a man has a right to live. Moreover, his life is not a means to any other or others' ends; it is an end for its own sake.<br />
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Observe the social systems proposed by altruists. They first put on the table something which, if it's not "guaranteed" by a proposed social system, they reject it out of hand.<br />
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'''How will it provide for the needy?'''<br />
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They don't ask if man must produce before he consumes. They do not ask if production has any prerequisites. They ask if needy people will be given what's produced first.<br />
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Capitalism does ask such [[questions]].</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Government&diff=45Government2004-06-28T04:41:58Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>Some definitions by Bearster:<br />
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Socialism (same as communism) is the social system which places the power to initiate the use of physical force under the control of the collective.<br />
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Fascism is the is the social system which places the power to initiate the use of physical force under the control of a military leader.<br />
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Democracy is the social system which places the power to initiate the use of physical force under the control of a majority.<br />
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Anarchism is the social system which places the power to initiate the use of physical force under the control of any thug who would wield it.<br />
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'''Capitalism is the social system based on the prohibition of the initiation of the use of physical force.'''<br />
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Capitalism (alt., tongue-in-cheek) is the social system which doesn't permit the lazy, the irrational, or the vicious to hold back their betters.<br />
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Libertarianism (tongue-in-cheek) is the kind of anarchism that's dressed in capitalism's clothing.</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Government&diff=9Government2004-06-28T04:41:24Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>Some definitions by Bearster:<br />
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Socialism (same as communism) is the social system which places the power to initiate the use of physical force under the control of the collective.<br />
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Fascism is the is the social system which places the power to initiate the use of physical force under the control of a military leader.<br />
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Democracy is the social system which places the power to initiate the use of physical force under the control of a majority.<br />
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Anarchism is the social system which places the power to initiate the use of physical force under the control of any thug who would wield it.<br />
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Capitalism is the social system based on the prohibition of the initiation of the use of physical force.<br />
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Capitalism (alt., tongue-in-cheek) is the social system which doesn't permit the lazy, the irrational, or the vicious to hold back their betters.<br />
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Libertarianism (tongue-in-cheek) is the kind of anarchism that's dressed in capitalism's clothing.</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Exploitation&diff=5752Exploitation2004-06-28T04:35:28Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>This tongue-in-cheek definition is offered because it illustrated why non-objective notions like "exploitation" are rationally unusable terms.<br />
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Exploitation: "when someone works for terms that I would not accept." -- Bearster</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Exploitation&diff=8Exploitation2004-06-28T04:35:11Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>This tongue-in-cheek definition is offered because it illustrated why non-objective notions like "exploitation" are rationally unusable terms.<br />
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Exploitation: "when someone works for terms that I would not accept."<br />
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-- Bearster</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Rights&diff=34Rights2004-06-28T04:33:12Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>The individual rights are:<br />
Life<br />
Liberty<br />
Property<br />
There is no such thing as collective rights. In the area of rights, statists have invented many anti-concepts designed to obliterate the concept of rights, or of a particular right.<br />
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[[Externality]]<br />
[[Exploitation]]</div>Bearsterhttps://wiki.objectivismonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Rights&diff=7Rights2004-06-28T04:31:06Z<p>Bearster: </p>
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<div>The individual rights are:<br />
Life<br />
Liberty<br />
Property<br />
There is no such thing as collective rights.</div>Bearster