Agonblog

Those Who Can, Do

Agonist — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:34:00 +0000

John Dewey gets name-dropped in a wandering bit of “sustainability” pabulum. What if a bunch of kids learn to do some things by themselves, but never for themselves?

A Little Class

Agonist — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:13:47 +0000

A few years ago, I was contemplating Endarkenment and what might be done about it when I experienced a little epiphany. I saw the root cause of the Endarkenment for the first time, and it was immediately obvious the general method by which it might be torn up and burned out. I thought, no [...]

Here’s the Plan: Get a Plan

Agonist — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 03:01:19 +0000

“Evil People Have Plans!” – MoC #18 (by comedian Lee Camp)

There’s lots to quibble with in this video. Still, he’s right.

Objectivism Misfires

Agonist — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:27:12 +0000

This is the tenth entry in my Antistatism Series.

Objectivism has nothing substantive to say about the private ownership of firearms, and nothing at all to say about the revolutionary and radical implications of the Second Amendment. Objectivists, in the aggregate, tend to follow Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff in thinking of [...]

Update on The Antistatism Series and Universals

Agonist — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 06:25:04 +0000

A recent comment on “It’s Ours To Lose” has inspired me to write up a brief progress report on my Antistatism Series. I’ve been considering posting a progress report for … years … now, but I’ve had other things on my mind.

First, since this may not have been clear, the series is not [...]

It’s Ours to Lose

Agonist — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 22:46:58 +0000

Endarkenment*

Many who have learned from Ayn Rand believe that Enlightenment civilization, the bequeathal of Aristotle, Newton, and Jefferson, declines precipitously toward a renaissance of the medieval, of the Paleolithic, or worse, with perhaps an interregnum of digital-age totalitarian fascism along the way. Picture a televangelist smiling beatifically. Then picture him in sanguine raiment [...]

Good Grief

Agonist — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 05:00:12 +0000

The furor over McCaskey seems to have died down. I’m not sure what to make of it.

I agree with Trey Givens’s take on what the real questions are, or should be.

I would amend my previous comments anticipating “exculpatory” evidence: until the real questions are answered, all final judgments about this affair are [...]

Tracinski on Peikoff and McCaskey, and The Objectivist Movement

Agonist — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 05:42:15 +0000

Despite some very, very serious flaws, such as his absurd hopes for the Tea Party movement, Robert Tracinski’s argument is essentially sound and intermittently brilliant. He has redeemed himself, in my view, from the "What Went Right?" debacle, throughout which Peikoff’s arguments vastly outclassed his. This is doubly impressive, since Tracinski frequently, and unhelpfully, [...]

Impervious to Evidence

Agonist — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:00:01 +0000

Turns out it’s serious business when someone is wrong on the internet …

Two friends build a wind-powered car that travels directly downwind faster than the wind. It’s a neat case study in bias.

The World Cup

Agonist — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:32:26 +0000

For several years I was mildly curious about soccer. It seemed odd that the whole world but the U.S. followed the sport fanatically. I made it a point to catch a game or two on TV, to see if I was missing something.

Years later, my curiosity had shifted. I no longer wondered why [...]