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Find books by and about Tibor
Machan at Powell's Books.
CLICK HERE to read
Dr. Machan's essay "On the Social Contract," in The
Radical Academy Politics Resource Center. Other
essays by Dr. Machan are listed in the Tibor
Machan Archive.
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Objectivity
Anyone?
The question of objectivity is whether
human beings are capable of knowing
reality just as it is, or whether there is
some necessary distortion in our grasp of
the nature of things imposed either by the
very nature of our cognitive mechanism, or
by such factors as language, culture,
personal ambitions, psychological
disorders, and class interests. Could it
be that we do not see the world at all,
since we see it from a particular point of
view? Can we ever satisfactorily establish
that our understanding of reality is
accurate, or must that always remain in
doubt?
In this book Professor Machan defends
objectivity in philosophy, science, and
everyday life from its many critics.
Objectivity stands in need of a defence
because it is a difficult ideal to serve,
especially in an era of multiculturalism,
deconstructionism, feminism, and
diversity. People from different cultures
report having radically different
experiences, indeed radically different
worlds. They usually claim that their
experiences are as true as anyone else's.
Deconstructionists tell us that we know
nothing determinate beyond language, i.e.,
that we don't know what we are talking
about. Feminists often maintain that women
and men see the world in significantly
different ways. The idea of diversity
gains much of its plausibility from the
idea that people from diverse backgrounds
all have their own valid ways of seeing
the world.
The most prominent movements in
Anglo-American and continental philosophy
are against objectivity. Such figures as
Richard Rorty and Jacques Derrida
unambiguously deny that human beings are
capable of knowing the world as it is.
This book considers and responds to these
and similar challenges to objectivity.
Objectivity:
Recovering Determinate Reality in
Philosophy, Science, and Everyday Life, by
Tibor R. Machan
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A
Memoir
The Man Without a Hobby is the
memoir of Tibor Machan, a first generation
refugee who escaped both a political and a
personal tyranny early in his life and
embarked upon a search for an
understanding of what it means to live
freely and wisely. The book is a record of
the main events and some interesting
tidbits of his life. Detailed are
Professor Machan's reflections,
interpretations, and lamentations of his
riskiest judgments and noteworthy
achievements.
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The Virtue Of
Generosity Flourishes Most In A Free
Society
The virtue of generosity is a
spontaneous, though rationally cultivated,
disposition of persons to extend their
help to others who can use and deserve it.
As with other virtues, generosity
presupposes that persons can make free
choices as to how they will act. Its full
flourishing in a community requires,
furthermore, that the rights to liberty of
action are fully respected and protected.
Contending, as some do, that generous
conduct may be elicited by coercive
measures or prohibitions laid down against
trade -- e.g., so as to encourage blood
donations -- is wrongheaded. Coerced
"generosity" is not virtuous and removing
the option to trade also does violence to
the conditions required for virtous
generosity. In their eagerness to provide
for the needy, some thinkers make public
policy proposals that destory the human
capacity for virtous generosity. Only if
men and women are left free -- that is, if
they live in civil society -- can they be
expected to act as they should, including
generously, when that is appropriate.
The Author
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Ethics
Presupposes Individual
Responsibility
An aspect of this book that's
distinctive is that it takes seriously the
view that "ought implies can" or if one is
ethically responsible to do something, one
must have the capacity to initiate one's
conduct. The criminal law and common sense
embrace this but there is much dispute
about it, as well, in our culture wherein
so often people disclaim the capacity to
make their own choices as to what they do.
The book also covers ethical theories,
problems of justifying ethical claims,
some political and social theories and
certain well known issues regarding which
there is much debate - abortion, gambling,
sexual offensiveness, etc. The
Author
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