“Philosophy” on The Daily Caller

The experience of free will is more basic than any other. Everyone naturally feels he or she is the author of his or her choices and character. Even our language — we say “I chose,” not “my brain chose” — attests to the universality of this sensation. But in spite of its apparent self-evidence, author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues in Free Will that it is a hollow illusion. This tightly and cogently argued book is simply devastating in its attack on its namesake. (more)

It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong.
– Jeremy Bentham (more)

There is a lot of talk about tone these days. People think political arguments are nastier than they used to be. They are certainly nasty. But I’d argue people are actually more civil now than they used to be. (more)

There were heated and sometimes violent debates in early America about whether “we the people” had sufficient virtue and morality to govern ourselves. Newspapers, preachers, and the market square became centers of moral self-examination. Colonists, sensing a break for freedom, wondered aloud if their society was virtuous enough to handle self-government. (more)

Having studied the conservative movement in some detail both in college and out, I was naturally intrigued by the recent interview that this particular publication did with Reid Buckley. While Mr. Buckley, whose brother’s old magazine has previously employed me, cannot be said to speak for his brother — and certainly not ex Cathedra — he is as close a source to the fons et origo of the Right as one can reasonably hope for now that WFB has passed. As such, we are compelled to take him seriously on matters of intellectual conservatism. (more)

As House Republicans plan an ambitious oversight agenda for the next session of Congress, a watchdog group is calling for a probe into a company that it says is far too cozy with the Obama administration: Google. (more)

On November 2nd, the American people’s voice was heard at the ballot box. Voters in Arizona, Oklahoma and Missouri overwhelmingly voted for ballot measures stopping the enforcement of the individual mandate — one of the key provisions in Obamacare. The mandate, which takes effect in 2014, will force Americans to buy government-approved health care insurance whether they want to or not. Somehow, the Obama administration thinks this new mandate will boost our ratings in the first ever review by the United Nations Human Rights Council. (more)

Republican Carly Fiorina’s senatorial campaign launched a new ad attacking Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer for exaggerating facts when she talks about the economy and healthcare. (more)

A Colorado man now living in Texas may have been killed by Mexican pirates who authorities said have tried to lay claim to a popular lake on the Texas border. (more)

The ethics committee is struggling to come up with a schedule for the public trials of Reps. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). (more)

Achieving higher levels of ethical conduct, as is the case of achieving all optimal positions, is a balancing act. For corporations, ethical attitude and sustainable success are achieved by striking a balance between the bottom line and the interest of the employees and the community at large. Employees’ ethical behavior and success, on the other hand, are achieved by balancing their personal interest with their companies’ interest. (more)

On a humid September evening over 200 years ago, a tired Benjamin Franklin was asked “Well Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?” Franklin responded in one of his characteristically laconic quips: “A Republic, if you can keep it.” (more)

Barack Obama’s precipitous rise to the White House and his awesome expansion of federal power are frequently explained either as the products of failure or as crucial elements in progressivism’s undoing of American Constitutionalism. While each account is not exclusive of the other, both seek an explanation for the challenges posed by Obama’s presidency to self-government properly understood. The former wagers that the distorting effects of Bush’s foreign policy, a badly flawed Republican Party, and the 2008 market crash were crucial to his mastery of fortune. President Obama stands as the accidental leader. The comforting thought is that as political prospects for Obama have grown dimmer, the repeal of Obama’s mandate to govern is surely just around the bend of the Potomac. We conservatives can almost see it. Alternatively, other more trenchant observations point towards the ongoing corruption of America’s founding spirit. Within this tale of deformation, occurring for well nigh a century, President Obama represents a fresh and dramatic episode in government expansion. (more)

Nothing seems to scare the populist Left more than the people.  Protest the Obama administration’s big spending, pervasive centralizing, expansive regulating policies, and you must be an enemy of all that is good and true.  Attend a Tea Party rally and you’re probably a racist and certainly not a Christian. (more)

I have been watching all of the colorful (pun intended) sights and sounds from the past week, wondering when did I walk into the 1960s all of the sudden – or, worse still, some altered version of the 1960s where civil rights organizations get it wrong on race, wholesome Americans get represented by a world-class bigot, and black people turn a blind eye to the deteriorating racial conditions within America by proclaiming that “institutionalized racism is dead.” (more)

DES MOINES, Iowa — A billboard created by an Iowa tea party group that compares President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin is drawing sharp criticism – even from fellow tea party activists who have condemned it as offensive and a waste of money. (more)

According to a Zogby survey (buried by the mainstream media as an irrelevant news item), self-identified Democrats and Progressives score badly on a simple test of economic understanding. This, according to the May issue of Econ Journal Watch (which I read only because it was the swimsuit issue), was no surprise to the cognitive few remaining among us. (more)

We are losing the ability to think deep thoughts. So says an article posted today at the Atlantic web site. The author explains: (more)

Don’t work too hard! Perfectionists have an increased risk of premature death, according to research reported in LiveScience.com (via Msnbc.com). (more)

Self-interest and humanitarianism (more)