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Index for this page...
All The Following Items Were Posted On February 1, 2008 Justice and Expediency: Only Aristotle uses the word "justice" in two radically different senses. He distinguishes between general and special justice. By justice in general he means justice as one of the four cardinal aspects of virtue, the other three being courage, temperance, and prudence. The morally virtuous man is a just man, and as such he is a temperate man and one who is also courageous and prudent. By special justice, Aristotle means fairness in exchange and fairness in the distribution of goods. Fairness in exchange is commutative justice; and the other aspect of fairness is distributive justice. Fairness is the special justice that is to be found in just laws; and it is in connection with the justice of human-made or positive law that Aristotle introduces the notion of equitable dispensation from a strict application of law to difficult cases. In the Anglo-American tradition of the common law, courts of chancery and equity provide such dispensations by the Lord Chancellor in Great Britain and by a similar official in some United States jurisdictions. Machiavelli tells us that the prince should be just in the use of power, but if a just use of his power is not expedient, then he should be expedient in his effort to be a successful prince. The ideal use of power occurs when ruling justly is also expedient. But when that is not possible, Machiavelli, says, then the prince or anyone else with ruling power must be unscrupulous and use whatever means will succeed in getting or keeping power even if the means employed are unjust. Source: Adler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon. Have you a copy of this book in your personal library? If not, consider getting one. Read Max Weismann's review of this book by Clicking Here.
Seneca (4 B.C. - A.D. 65) Ancient Roman Stoic Philosopher "Seneca, born in Spain, was wealthy, eloquent, and influential. His writings include ten dramatic tragedies, dozens of treatises, homilies, and several books on the natural sciences. Banished to Corsica in AD 41 by the Jealous Messalina, wife of the emperor Claudius, he was recalled in AD 49 to become tutor to the youthful Nero. In AD 65 his Stoic faith was put to the test. He was charged with complicity in a conspiracy against the emperor and ordered by Nero to end his life. Since the Stoics approved of one's right to take change of the circumstances of one's death, rather than waiting for the decline of faculties and a doddering exit, Seneca opened his veins at the peak of his spiritual power, as he had been commanded." -- Professor James L. Christian. Read about Seneca in The Radical Academy.
Source: Volume 1 of The Wisdom Seekers: Great Philosophers of the Western World, by James L. Christian. If you want an excellent and comprehensive history of philosophy, the two volumes in this set are among the best available. And I'm not just saying that because Professor Christian is a personal friend. I used his introductory textbook in philosophy -- Philosophy: An Introduction to the Art of Wondering -- when I was teaching an introduction to philosophy course many years ago. It is an excellent introduction. J.D.
FOR THE RECORD 1. ECONOMICS: Proof - Economic Liberty Brings Abundance What makes a country wealthy? What is the best way for impoverished people and countries to escape poverty? The evidence is now overwhelming. The answer is economic liberty: free markets, entrepreneurialism, free trade, limited government. The latest proof comes from The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, who have released the 2008 edition of their Index of Economic Freedom. Now fourteen years old, this annual survey ranks over 150 countries on how they score on these ten key factors of economic freedom:
According to the survey: "Taken together, these ten freedoms offer an empirical depiction of a country's degree of economic freedom." The survey clearly demonstrates that "economies with higher levels of economic freedom enjoy higher living standards." Indeed, the Index reports that the freest 20% of the world's economies have twice the per capita income of those in the second quintile -- and five times that of the least-free 20%. The freest economies also have lower rates of unemployment and lower inflation. Further, the report shows that the less free an economy is, the more the people suffer from poverty, inflation, and unemployment. Libertarians should realize from this that our work for economic liberty is not just some abstraction. When people are denied economic freedom, they are stunted, they suffer and they die. When they have it, they grow, prosper and live longer. The work of libertarianism is the work of saving lives and saving the world. Here are the ten freest economies in the world, and their scores. According to the study, a score of 100 (which no country has reached) would represent "an economic environment or set of policies that is most conducive to economic freedom."
And the ten least free:
The report notes that global economic freedom, overall, did not expand in the past year. But it didn't shrink, either. And the Index offers this exciting hope for the near future: "[T]he fourth quintile alone contains half of the world's population. This is due to the presence of China and India together. This fact suggests that when China and India further open their economies to globalization so that internal economic freedoms are strengthened, the rise in global prosperity will be spectacular." Source: Heritage Foundation 2. EDUCATION: Six Years Later - "No Child Left Behind" A Disaster It's the six-year anniversary of the Bush administration's landmark No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. So far NCLB has cost tens of billions of dollars and brought record levels of federal involvement in education -- with, predictably, little or nothing worthwhile from it all. The law is facing reauthorization. But many commentators are condemning it as a costly failure -- and unconstitutional, to boot. The law's stated goal is to have 100 percent of kids achieving government-defined "proficiency" in math and writing by 2014. Yes, just six years from now. Yes, 100 percent. Needless to say, there remains a good bit of catching up to do. (This reminds us of the demented 1998 goal of Newt Gingrich and numerous GOP House members of "a drug-free America by 2002," which was also introduced with loud trumpets and straight faces.) Says Neal McCluskey of the libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom: "Six years of No Child Left Behind, and what do we have to show for it? Stagnant reading achievement, slowed math improvements, declining academic performance versus competitor nations, and narrowed curricula, all for the bargain price of about $24 billion per year, or a 40 percent increase over fiscal year 2001. "This pathetic return on our investment, of course, would be shocking were it not for another inconvenient truth: The federal government has been spending billions of dollars on education every year for over four decades, and it's never produced anything but academic stagnation and lighter taxpayer wallets. "Why? Because federal policy is primarily designed to do little more than let politicians show that they 'care,' and let the education establishment and its powerful lobbyists get as much money -- and as little accountability -- as possible. "This year, Washington ought to give the entire country a present to celebrate NCLB's sixth birthday: the law's elimination, and the end of 40-plus years of expensive failure." Cato education expert Andrew Coulson adds: "It's the NCLB's birthday, and you can cry if you want to. And if you have kids in school, or about to enter school, you might want to." "[W]hat do you get for the law that's done nothing? Barely a month ago, two separate sets of international test results were released, allowing us to see how U.S. academic performance has changed since NCLB was enacted. ... The tests were PIRLS (Program on International Reading Literacy Survey) and PISA (Program on International Student Assessment). "Across grades and across subjects, student achievement has either stagnated or declined -- and that's despite the infusion of tens of billions of dollars of new spending in each of the past six years." Mainstream lawmakers outside D.C. acknowledge the unconstitutionality of NCLB, pointing out the Constitution does not authorize federal involvement in education. In 2005, a task force of the bi-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures declared: "The task force does not believe that NCLB is constitutional." But as we know, in the Alice In Wonderland world of DC, failure is rewarded with... more money and more power. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are proposing "reforms" for NCLB that would increase federal power and lavish even more money on this failed, doomed, unconstitutional and idiotic boondoggle. Sources: Cato Institute; National Conference of State Legislatures; Drug-Free America by 2002. NO CUSSING IN BARS: "A St. Louis-area town is considering a bill that would ban swearing in bars, along with table-dancing, drinking contests and profane music. ... The proposal would ban indecent, profane or obscene language, songs, entertainment and literature at bars." Why don't they go on and ban drinking alcohol in bars, too? -- Source: Associated Press OFF THE MARK: One year ago, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson predicted that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in "mass killing" in 2007, most likely after September. Robertson said God told him during a prayer retreat that major cities and perhaps millions of Americans would be impacted by the attack. "I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said on his television show "The 700 Club." "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that." Needless to say, it didn't happen. It's not the first time Robertson has been off the mark with his predictions. In May 2006, he said God told him a tsunami could crash into the U.S. coastline before the year was out, Fox News reported. No tsunami arrived. In 2005, he predicted that Social Security reform proposals would be approved. But President Bush's Social Security initiative went nowhere. And in January 2004, he foretold that President Bush would "easily" win re-election. He garnered 51 percent of the vote. "I have a relatively good track record," Robertson said. "Sometimes I miss." Source: NewsMax Insider Report CARS VERSUS TERRORISTS: "The truth is, we're in far more danger from our own cars than we are from terrorism. Nearly 800,000 people have died in car accidents in the last twenty years. During that time there have been exactly two Islamic terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, with less than 3,000 total fatalities. That's more than 200 TIMES as many Americans dying in their cars as at the hands of Islamic terrorism. And yet . . . We've turned the whole world upside down in response to the two terrorist attacks. We've launched invasions, created vast new bureaucracies, shredded the Bill of Rights, compounded regulations, spent hundreds of billions of dollars, and disrupted travel and commerce. But no one is suggesting that we do 200 times as much to address the driving risk, which is 200 times greater."-- Source: "I Am Not Afraid," from DownSize DC 4. QUOTE OF THE MONTH: Hating Free Markets "Why are so many people so hostile to free markets? Markets provide miracles that we take for granted. Clean, well-lighted supermarkets sell 30,000 products. Starvation has largely vanished from countries where private property and economic freedom are permitted. Free markets have rescued more people from poverty than government ever has. ... And yet, when innovators propose extending this benign power, people shriek in fear." -- libertarian journalist John Stossel Please Note: Items in the "For The Record" section do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of The Radical Academy. Nor is the Academy responsible for any misrepresentation of the facts included. It is your job to be a critical reader. We simply provide this information as a service to our visitors because we think it is interesting and/or relevant. Some of the information in "For The Record" may have been provided to us by one or more of the following resources: Advocates for Self-Government; NewsMax.com; The Patriot Post; Media Research Center; National Center for Public Policy Research; Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
COUNSELING CORNER: Some Serious Things To Ponder . . . A shrimp's heart is in its head. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times. If the government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, make it illegal for US citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles? A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why. 23% of all photocopier faults world-wide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts. Most lipstick contains fish scales. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit. More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call. Horses can't vomit. Butterflies taste with their feet. In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined. On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death. Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.
A LITTLE OF THIS & A LITTLE OF THAT A Little Wisdom: The world of tomorrow belongs to the person who has the vision today. A Little Advice: Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes. A Little Question: Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet? A Little Quip: When someone says, "Do you want my opinion?" -- it's always a negative one. A Little Put-Down: The U.S. Congress: 100 Senators; 435 Representatives; 0 Clues. A Little Proverb: If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. A Little Reflection: The only problem with mornings is that they happen too early in the day. A Little Definition: INFLATION - Cutting money in half without damaging the paper. A Little Quote: "He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them." -- Syndicated columnist James Reston (about Richard Nixon). A Little Observation: It's amazing what a man can accomplish when he's not worried about who will get the credit.
Some interesting & provocative articles on other websites: The road to wisdom, by Nicholas Maxwell: Natural science, too, would change so that it included three domains of discussion: evidence, theory and aims - this last category covering discussion of metaphysics, values and politics. Pursued for its own sake, science would be more like natural philosophy, intermingling science, metaphysics and philosophy, as in the time of Newton. Pop Goes Philosophy - Lead Us Not Into Speculation, Nor Excessive Computation, by George Reisch and Nick Bostrom: A prominent philosopher argues that you, me, and everyone you know may be an artificial computer-simulation of a person. ... This is Bostrom's claim: that there's a real chance -- one in five, he roughly estimates -- that me, you, and everyone else you know is a computer simulation of a person, not too unlike those characters in The Matrix. God and the multiverse - Is philosophy just tinkering around the edges of science, or can a meeting of the disciplines give us deeper insghts into the universe?, by Mark Vernon: The relationship between science and philosophy is a vexed one. Some philosophers today feel that science is the best, perhaps only, way to secure knowledge. Science Could Support Spiritual Beliefs, by Mani Bhaumik: Some questions we've posed persistently through the ages have remained largely unanswered: Why are we here? Is there a purpose to our lives? Is there a Creator who brought us here? All of us have asked these questions sometime in our lives. Humans are dogs - Even monkeys can do math, by Annalee Newitz: Two new studies of animal intelligence caught my attention last week because they prove that humans are no better than dogs and monkeys. This is something I've always felt to be true on an anecdotal level, and now cognitive science backs me up. Huge rise in study of philosophy at school, by Andrew Denholm: It was once described as "a route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing", yet the popularity of philosophy in Scottish schools has seen a dramatic upturn in the past five years. The number of pupils studying the subject of thought has risen by more than 41%. Stranger than fiction - parallel universes beguile science: Is the universe -- correction: "our" universe -- no more than a speck of cosmic dust amid an infinite number of parallel worlds? A staple of mind-bending science fiction, the possibility of multiple universes has long intrigued hard-nosed physicists, mathematicians and cosmologists too. How a Catholic priest gave us the Big Bang Theory, by Alex Higgins: The history of cosmology -- the study of the Universe -- for the last five hundred years is often portrayed as a clash between science on the one hand, and the cold hand of religious dogma on the other. Science and God: The word "evolution'' is a kind of post-modern Pavlov's bell. At the mere mention of it, two parallel lines begin to form. On one, scientists stand ready to defend biology's central organizing principle. On the other are creationists of various kinds protecting their faith in biblical truth. A Skeptic's View of Natural Selection, by Ryan McMaken: It's become somewhat de rigueur in recent election cycles to ask politicians about their beliefs regarding biological evolution. This was an issue again this year with several Republican candidates earning the condemnation of pundits over their views on the matter. Subject to boost self-confidence: Philosophy. The very word brings to mind lengthy intellectual discourses and abstract exchanges comprehensible only to high-brow thinkers. As a subject, it is perceived as stuffy and intimidating, appealing only perhaps to the bookish and cerebral. But recent research has shown that it can be for all, even primary school children.
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