Philosophy
Immigration and Individual Rights (accessible for free)
Zeros in on the basic principle of America and demonstrates that this principle mandates a policy of open immigration, debunks several common arguments for prohibiting or limiting immigration, shows why all such arguments are necessarily invalid, and indicates what Americans must do if we are to reestablish and maintain the kind of moral, rights-respecting immigration policy that was advocated by the Founders. Read the article.
Isaac Newton: Discoverer of Universal Laws
Examines key aspects of Newton’s discoveries, shows how he embraced and employed the scientific context established by giants who came before him (such as Galileo and Kepler), and indicates how he rose to even greater heights of explanation through a breathtaking unity of observation, experimentation, conceptual expansion, concept formation, generalization, induction. Read the opening paragraphs (full article accessible to subscribers).
Instrumentalism and the Disintegration of American Tort Law
Illustrates the utter insanity of today’s liability law, recounts the roots and original purpose of the law of torts, surveys the missing links and corrupt ideas that led to its destruction, and sheds light on the path to identifying a sound body of principles that will ground this field in the ultimate purpose of objective law: the protection of individual rights. Read the opening paragraphs (full article accessible to subscribers).
The Morality of Moneylending: A Short History (accessible for free)
Presents an essentialized history of usury, showing that, just as moneylenders are being damned and blamed for today’s “sub-prime mortgage crisis,” so they have been condemned and castigated for alleged wrongdoing from the beginning of Western civilization. Brook zeros in on the economic and moral premises that give rise to contempt for this profession; he identifies the moral-practical dichotomy inherent in these ideas; and he discusses a unified set of principles that must be understood and embraced if moneylending is to be seen as the noble business that it actually is. Read the article.
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Greek Justice: Homer to the Sermon on the Mount
Surveys the ancient Greek conception of justice and shows how this relatively healthy idea is later twisted into utter malignancy by Christianity. Read the opening paragraphs (full article accessible to subscribers).
Induction and Experimental Method
Examines the key experiments involved in Galileo’s kinematics and Newton’s optics, identifies the essential methods by which these scientists achieved their discoveries, and illustrates the principle that induction is inherent in valid conceptualization. Read the opening paragraphs (full article accessible to subscribers).
Egoism Explained
A Review of Tara Smith’s Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist
Reviews Tara Smith’s latest book, Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist, and finds it to be a welcome addition to the existing literature on the Objectivist ethics—and a sizable challenge for critics of egoism. Read the opening paragraphs (full article accessible to subscribers).
The Tragedy of Theology: How Religion Caused and Extended the Dark Ages (accessible for free)
A Critique of Rodney Stark’s The Victory of Reason
Critiques Rodney Stark’s best-selling book The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. Bernstein’s analysis proves Stark’s thesis to be historically false and philosophically impossible. The fundamental factor that led to freedom, capitalism, and Western success, Bernstein shows, was not the Christian, scripture-based approach of applying “reason” to the goal of understanding “super-nature,” but rather the Aristotelian, observation-based method of applying reason to the goal of understanding actual nature. Read the article.
The Educational, Psychological, and Philosophical Assault on Self-Esteem
Examines the misconceptions of self-esteem that are widely accepted and propagated by educators and psychologists today, illustrates the philosophical causes of those misconceptions in modern philosophy, and presents the correct view of self-esteem along with its philosophical roots in rational philosophy. Read the opening paragraphs (full article accessible to subscribers).
The Decline and Fall of American Conservatism (accessible for free)
Examines today’s putatively splintered conservative movement, zeros in on the essence of its two dominant factions, and shows the movement to be only superficially split while fundamentally unified—and stultified—by the conservatives’ universal acceptance of a morality that is antithetical to liberty. Read the article.
Religion vs. Free Speech (accessible for free)
Demonstrates that the tenets of religion are incompatible with the right to free speech, and shows why those who want to establish and maintain freedom of speech must repudiate religion and embrace the rational, secular foundation for rights. Read the article.
Introducing The Objective Standard (accessible for free)
Outlines the philosophy on which The Objective Standard is based and indicates what is to come. Read the introduction.
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