Articles

Richard M. Salsman reviews Free Market Economics: An Introduction for the General Reader, by Steven Kates.

Offers a concise history of the relationships and conflicts between Aristotelianism and the three major monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; illustrates the varying degrees to which Western and Middle Eastern cultures accepted or rejected The Philosopher's ideas and attempted to mix them with religion; and shows the power of rational ideas to sustain and further human life and the power of irrational ideas to throttle and thwart it.

Discusses the nature of principles, surveys various kinds of principles, draws crucial definitions of “principle” from the survey, and shows the vital role of principles in thinking.

Craig Biddle introduces the Spring 2014 issue.

May 22–25, I’ll be speaking at “Liberty, Free Markets, and Moral Character” along with Andrew Bernstein, Brad Thompson, and several libertarian speakers. The conference is for students between 18 and 24 years old; the deadline for applications is March 8.

Jonathan Hoenig’s new film, Pit Trading 101, is a fascinating and inspiring look at a small group of highly ambitious capitalists who attended the University of Trading in the 1990s and went on to trade in the commodities pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where they allocated huge amounts of capital via split-second decision making.

During the next two weeks, while we are completing and launching the new TOS website, posting on TOS Blog will be extremely light. We will resume our regular (and soon enhanced) blogging schedule in March. In the meantime, please enjoy our many timeless articles and posts.

The print edition of the Spring issue of The Objective Standard goes to press today and will be mailed shortly. The contents of the Spring issue include "A Peek at Thinking in Principles: The Science of Selfishness," by Craig Biddle; and "Aristotle Versus Religion," by Andrew Bernstein.

In conjunction with TOS’s new website, which will be launched shortly, we have created a new audio feed (available via direct rss feed or iTunes). The new feed currently offers a selection of recorded TOS Blog posts, Reason at Large talks, and more. We will add new audio items on a regular basis.

The Diplomat, an ESPN documentary about two-time Olympic champion figure skater Katarina Witt of East Germany (the former German Democratic Republic, or GDR), is released to video February 18. The film serves as a reminder—or a revelation—of the crushing grip communist dictatorships held on the people who “lived” under them.

What is the proper moral standard? As Ayn Rand identified, it is only a person’s own life that, ultimately, can serve as his highest value, which all other values properly support. Life, Rand pointed out, makes values possible and necessary.

As ObamaCare extends to government more and more control over health care, Milton Wolf—a medical doctor and candidate for U.S. Senate from Kansas—advocates “free market solutions to our healthcare problems” through a package of reforms he calls PatientCare.

A brief biography of Ayn Rand (1905–1982), an American novelist and philosopher and the creator of Objectivism, which she called "a philosophy for living on earth."

Explains how the philosophy of Objectivism is derived from the observable facts of reality and the demonstrable requirements of human life and happiness.

A recent immigration proposal by U.S. House Republican leaders comports with the standard of individual rights in two important ways. First, it seeks to allow many immigrants now here illegally to “live legally and without fear in the U.S.” Second, it recognizes that such legal status need not be coupled with a path to citizenship.