Articles

Doug Altner answers a letter about the Barbary pirate wars.

Craig Biddle introduces the Spring 2010 issue.

Grant W. Jones reviews Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism, edited by Elan Journo.

John David Lewis' new book, Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History, has been released and is now available for purchase. Congratulations Dr. Lewis! For a taste of Dr. Lewis' masterful analysis and writing, see his article "'No Substitute for Victory' The Defeat of Islamic Totalitarianism."

[The following is an excerpt of from Craig Biddle’s article “The Creed of Sacrifice vs. The Land of Liberty.” Citations have been omitted here but are available in the article, which is accessible for free.] The correlation between the morality of sacrifice and the violation of rights is no accident.…

  Amazon.com has offered TOS in Kindle Book format (i.e., single issues) since last May, but they've not offered the journal via their highly exclusive Kindle Magazine program (i.e., via subscription), which currently includes only 48 periodicals. Today, however, Amazon added TOS to their Kindle Magazine lineup. Kindle owners, enjoy!

In my last post, I responded to Will Wilkinson's allegation that Ayn Rand's ethical egoism cannot support the principle of individual rights, because the egoist has no self-interested reason to refrain from using force against others. Wilkinson contended that bureaucrats who feast at the public trough seem to fulfill their…

Commenting on the recent revival of interest in Ayn Rand, libertarian blogger Will Wilkinson recently asserted that while "Rand's emphasis on the role of individual rights in generating creativity and entrepreneurial effort remains enlightening," her moral justification for individual rights fails. Wilkinson, himself a former Ayn Rand enthusiast who became…

In my post about the contradiction between the technological sophistication of the Burj Dubai and the primitive superstition on display in the mosque at its pinnacle, I argued that this disparity is another example of the general disparity in progress between science and morality. But what accounts for this gap?…

Part four of Craig Biddle’s six-hour seminar The Source and Nature of Rights has been posted to UFM’s website and is accessible for free. In this section, Mr. Biddle concludes his discussion of Ayn Rand’s ethics and theory of rights.

[caption id="attachment_33190" align="alignright" width="300"] Image: Petter Palander[/caption] The beginning of the new year and decade bore witness to the opening of the world's newest tallest building: the Burj Dubai in the UAE. Like many other commentators, Landon Thomas of the New York Times noted the dire economic situation Dubai faces…

Part three of Craig Biddle’s six-hour seminar The Source and Nature of Rights has been posted to UFM’s website and is accessible for free. In this section, Mr. Biddle continues his discussion of Ayn Rand’s ethics and theory of rights.

Kudos to all the writers and activists involved with Front Range Objectivism. As reported by Paul Hsieh, in 2009 FRO members published 3 articles, 57 op-eds, and 48 letters to the editor. Some of the topics covered include the financial crisis, health care, gun control, environmentalism, free speech, and government…

According to the New York Times, Somali pirates hijacked a British-flagged vehicle carrier off the Somali coast late on Friday. For a principled and historically grounded analysis of what the civilized world should do about such atrocities, read Doug Altner's excellent essay “The Barbary Wars and Their Lesson for Combating…

Because The Objective Standard is selling well on the newsstands, Ingram (our newsstand distributor) increased its order by 20% with the Winter issue and is now distributing TOS to more than 400 stores nationwide (mostly Barnes & Noble). Look for the journal on your local newsstands, and if they don't…