{"id":158,"date":"2011-01-21T22:25:04","date_gmt":"2011-01-22T06:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/?p=158"},"modified":"2011-01-21T22:25:04","modified_gmt":"2011-01-22T06:25:04","slug":"update-on-the-antistatism-series-and-universals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/?p=158","title":{"rendered":"Update on The Antistatism Series and Universals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/?p=155&amp;cpage=1#comment-43949\" target=\"_blank\">comment<\/a> on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/?p=155\" target=\"_blank\">It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ours To Lose<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has inspired me to write up a brief progress report on my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/?cat=19\" target=\"_blank\">Antistatism Series<\/a>. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been considering posting a progress report for \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 years \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 now, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had other things on my mind.<\/p>\n<p>First, since this may not have been clear, the series is not complete. I estimate it is no more than half written, and probably less. Some long-planned, long-delayed posts include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dark Matter\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a post about the supposedly inert masses Objectivism blithely assumes will follow the New Intellectuals into Atlantis. <\/li>\n<li>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Progressive Tax on Virtue\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Objectivism argues that men of lesser ability benefit more from capitalism than do the greatest producers. Objectivists have perhaps not realized just how right they are. <\/li>\n<li>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Finance Argument\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d mum\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the word, for now. <\/li>\n<li>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Consent of the Governed: Anti-concept\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d self-explanatory. <\/li>\n<li>The following posts are less likely to make it in to the series:\n<ul>\n<li>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ayn Rand\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cartesian Politics\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d my notes on this one are too sparse, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve forgotten what the post was going to be about. (Though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure it had something to do with Objectivist politics being rationalistic.) I mention it just in case \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 <\/li>\n<li>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How Newton Made America\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d ideas move history in more complex ways that I have seen Objectivists appreciate. Nietzsche had important things to say about this. I think Newton had more to do with the founding of the United States than anyone has recognized thus far. <\/li>\n<li>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Objective Law in One Sentence\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/li>\n<li>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dear Prudence\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d not <em>how <\/em>the Objectivist politics is wrong, but <em>why<\/em> it is. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Second, the overarching thesis of the series is that the Objectivist politics is the best attempt at justifying the state ever put forth, but that it is still rationalistic, i.e., detached from reality, therefore there exists no justification for the state. Antistatism, or complete skepticism about the state as an institution, will be substantiated inductively by the end of the series. The planned structure of the argument is: define antistatism; show that politics must be justified inductively; contrast the Founders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 extensively inductive, clever, and subtle statecraft with the pie-in-the-sky, hand-wavy statecraft of Objectivism (and this is where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve left off); identify fatal lacunae in Objectivism\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s extant and implied statecraft; universalize and essentialize these criticisms so that Objectivists are not tempted to filibuster with post-hoc revisionist interpretations of their own politics; account for how a philosophy as subtle and powerful as Objectivism made such profound errors when it reached politics; and, finally, review the argument and consider the implications for anarchism.<\/p>\n<p>Third, readers should keep in mind that the series, like everything on this blog, is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153live rough draft.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I expect to revise extensively. Still, my live rough drafts are pretty damn good, I think, and definitely worth reading and considering carefully despite their inchoate state.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Regarding universals: I am nowhere near done with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/?p=119\">The Solution to the Problem of Universals<\/a>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Nor am I done <a href=\"http:\/\/forum.objectivismonline.net\/index.php?showtopic=13098\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. I have much revision work to do, and I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forgotten it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent comment on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ours To Lose\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has inspired me to write up a brief progress report on my Antistatism Series. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been considering posting a progress report for \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 years \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 now, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had other things on my mind. First, since this may not have been clear, the series is not complete. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antistatism-series","category-site-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theagon.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}