Select Essays
Here are links to some of my articles, most of which were published in The Objective Standard. (See my author page at TOS for more.)
Philosophy and Objectivism
- Helen Keller’s Five Keys to Being Happy
- Navigating Today’s Seductive and Destructive Language (A Study of Package-Deals and Anti-Concepts)
- Reason vs. Mysticism: Truth and Consequences
- Ayn Rand’s American Morality
- Regarding Carl Barney and Scientology
- What is Objectivism
- Independent Thinking, Morality, and Liberty
- Religion vs. Subjectivism: Why Neither Will Do
- Religion Is Super Subjectivism
- The Is–Ought Gap: Subjectivism’s Technical Retreat
- How Morality is Grounded in Reality
- Objective Moral Values: Basic Human Needs
- Making Life Meaningful: Living Purposefully
- Objective Moral Virtues: Principled Actions
- Here’s What’s Wrong with Ayn Rand’s Philosophy
- Ben Shapiro Denies and Affirms the Law of Identity
- The Argument From Intimidation: A Confession of Intellectual Impotence
- “Ayn Rand Said” Is Not an Argument
- The Beauty of Ayn Rand’s Ethics
- Atlas Shrugged and Ayn Rand’s Morality of Egoism
- Secular, Objective Morality: Look and See
- Basic Moral Theories Essentialized
- Why “Sacrifice” Means Loss, Not Gain
- Purpose, Value Hierarchies, and Happiness
- Reclaiming Spirituality for Lovers of Life
- Egoism, Benevolence, and Generosity
- Individual Rights and Principles of Egoism
- The Is-Altruism Dichotomy
- Purpose Comes from Reason not Religion
- Altruism: The Morality of Logical Fallacies
- Letters and Replies: Jesus and Violence
- Don’t Say Grace, Say Justice
- Scientific Morality and the Streetlight Effect
- Steve Jobs’ Philosophy of Life
- The Virtue of Honesty
- Independence vs. Second-Handedness
- Why the Prager-Shermer Debate Will Go Essentially Nowhere
- Reclaiming Spirituality for Lovers of Life
- Carl Barney on Objectivism and Success
- Rand’s Ethics and Say’s Law
- A Step Toward Rational Secularism Is Better than None
- Resources for Understanding Objectivism
- Resources for Advancing Objectivism
Individual Rights and Capitalism
- Defend Israel and Civilization or Keep the Faith—You Can’t Do Both
- Navigating Today’s Seductive and Destructive Language (A Study of Package-Deals and Anti-Concepts)
- Abortion and the Questions We Must Answer
- Ayn Rand’s Theory of Rights: The Moral Foundation of a Free Society
- Capitalism and the Moral High Ground
- Individualism vs. Collectivism: Our Future, Our Choice
- The Creed of Sacrifice vs. The Land of Liberty
- Liberty: What Is It? Why Is It Good? On What Does It Depend?
- Moral Diversity: Asset or Liability for Liberty?
- Independent Thinking, Morality, and Liberty
- Libertarianism vs. Radical Capitalism
- Ayn Rand: America’s Comeback Philosopher
- Religion vs. Free Speech
- Immigration and Individual Rights
- The Right to Immigrate and the Legitimacy of an Objective Screening Process
- Why Religious Conservatives Should Embrace Secular Rights
- Freedom of Speech Is Freedom to Think
- Tommy Robinson’s Right to Free Speech Morally Trumps All Laws That Violate It (Even That One)
- Capitalism Because Science
- The Poor, Disabled, and Helpless Under Capitalism
- A Civilized Society: The Necessary Conditions
- Reason and Capitalism, or Unreason and Environmentalism: Choose Wisely
- Libertarians Fiddle while Rome Burns
- How Would Government be Funded in a Free Society?
- The Equality Equivocation
- The Passion of Socialists
- America’s Declining Economic Liberty, and its Cause
- The American Right, the Purpose of Government, and the Future of Liberty
- Open Letter to Paul Krugman re Intellectual Impotence, Inflation, and Ayn Rand
- The Shapiro Principle: A Godsend for Lovers of Liberty
- An Open Letter to Advocates of Identity Politics
- Identity Politics vs. the Law of Identity
- Bad Parenting, Bad Education, and the State of America
- America’s Next Leftist President: Donald Trump
- Liberal Right vs. Regressive Left and Religious “Right”
- When Ayn Rand Meets Patrick Henry
- What to Celebrate on Independence Day
- A Vital Truth for Valentine’s Day: Say’s Law and Romantic Love
- Scrutinizing Scruton’s Scrutinizing
- Mere Atheism
- Auberon Herbert: Advocate of Reason, Individual Rights, and Limited Government
The Political Spectrum
- Defend Israel and Civilization or Keep the Faith—You Can’t Do Both
- Navigating Today’s Seductive and Destructive Language (A Study of Package-Deals and Anti-Concepts)
- Abortion and the Questions We Must Answer
- CJ Pearson Identifies a Cause of 9/11—but Not the Fundamental Cause
- Political “Left” and “Right” Properly Defined
- The Vital Function of the Left-Right Political Spectrum
- Liberal Right vs. Regressive Left and Religious “Right”
- Principles of the Liberal Right
- The Muddy Waters of the Nolan Chart
- A Note to the Right Regarding the “Alt-Right”
- Four Fallacies Regarding the Political Spectrum
Foreign Policy, War, and Peace
- U.S. Foreign Policy: What’s the Purpose
- The Causes of War and Those of Peace
- Ten Steps to End Jihad Against the West
- The Jihad Against America and How to End It
- Islamic Jihad and Western Faith
- Relativism and Religion vs. the Lives of Americans
- Israel: To Be, Or Not To Be
- Hamas and The Left’s Pretense about the Deaths of Innocents in Gaza
- A “Teal Movement” in Iran Could Be the End of the Regime: The U.S. Should Encourage It
- Reply to a Question about Targeting Non-Combatants in War
- The Taliban Can… Because We Let Them
- The Evil of Whitewashing Islam
Environmentalism
Art
Parenting
Conservatism
- Dennis Prager’s False Alternative and Ayn Rand’s Philosophy of Life
- Contra Ben Shapiro, Rational Self-Interest Is Not Hedonism
- Ben Shapiro and the Garbage Smear
- National Review’s MO Regarding Ayn Rand
- How Conservatives Begat Trump, and What to Do About It
- William F. Buckley: Cowardly, Dishonest, Unjust, Racist, and Loved by Conservatives