In my prior post, Good and Evil: Simpler Than We Pretend, I noted that St. Augustine of Hippo taught that evil is a privation in being rather than a positive substance. I also noted that a creature in this universe, this phase of God’s Creation, is not a firmly defined being of immutable substance but … [Read more…]
Is any existing human language a general purpose tool that can deal with all raw materials and produce all possible objects of utility and beauty? Can any existing human language deal with reality as we discover more about the world around us and even more about what lies inside of us? Is there any possible … [Read more…]
In my various writings, I’ve not had a good thing to say about the welfare systems and social security systems of our modern age. I only want to write a short entry explaining the basic principle behind my opposition to welfare systems and social security systems. We are physical creatures, creatures who need food and … [Read more…]
This will be a short one and necessary only because there are so few who really care about ideas nowadays. We think in terms of policies, of immediate flows of cash and the resources which cash can buy in the modern world. And so it makes some limited sense in the context of our times … [Read more…]
In my first posting on the American Empire which is taking a somewhat more definite shape, I noted the relationship between liquid wealth and the growth of central powers. Those central powers, in the case of the United States an unholy alliance of politicians and corporate capitalists, will see liquid wealth as so much booty … [Read more…]
Recently, Pope Benedict XVI caused a bit of a stir in his address at the University of Regensburg (Sept. 12, 2006). I’ll address the true thrust of his speech and not those remarks which were taken out of context. Specifically, I intend to work in line with his stated intention: “The intention here is not … [Read more…]
I know just enough about history and economics to be dangerous and what I know leads me to the dangerous thought that a sufficiently large political entity with a centralized government will tend strongly to evolve into an empire, no matter its pretences to being a republic. It may have initial periods of freedom, but … [Read more…]
About 8 years ago, I wrote an article titled “Is Self-interest Sufficient to Organize a Free Economy?” and posted it on the Free Software Foundation website. In it, I argued that Adam Smith was not an individualist while I seem to have made Adam Smith the poster boy for the evil of modern liberalism (individualism) … [Read more…]