GENIUS FORUMS

I would suggest learning some basic economics. Start with why people work at all, and where wages come from.
I don't think you'll be able to free yourself from work if you don't even know what it is.
The first 20 minutes of this lecture are great:
http://mises.org/multimedia/mp3/block/block3.mp3

The difference between market anarchy and monarchy is that market anarchy is a voluntary society, whereas monarchy (or any form of government) is necessarily violent- because all government is rooted in taxation, and taxation is theft. Thus, all forms of government require violence to function, wher...

I've been researching anarchism for the last few months and I've come to the conclusion that it is the only logical form of society. That is, anarchism will be to politics what heliocentrism was to astronomy. http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard133.html http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/molyn...

Looks solid to me.

I would highly recommend that everyone in this thread read this article: http://www.quebecoislibre.org/06/060205-5.htm In it he talks about how empiricism (such as the empirical sciences) cannot produce or refute absolute knowledge. But he also recognizes another sense in which empiricism is used. T...

Right on Trevor. Empiricism claims that all knowledge is based on experience. But then, the claim "all knowledge is based on experience" must itself be 1- absolutely true or 2- based on experience. If it is absolutely true, then the statement is contradictory. If it is based on experience,...

I should have been more precise. I'm referring to when you're actually arguing with someone and whenever you bring up anything that they cannot comprehend by counting on their fingers, they charge you with being impractical and abstract. These are the same people who tell you to "give up intell...

How do you deal with the wishy-washy people who say that being practical and concrete is better than being abstract and philosophical? Any ideas and thoughts are welcome.
I'll go first: Since language itself is an abstraction, by their logic they cannot even communicate.

Faust: I think you would be very interested in those articles on praxeology I referenced above. They deal directly with the question of how knowledge is verifiable- whether by empiricism or logic or some combination of the two - introspection. the dependence of philosophy on empirical evidence. This...

Divine Focus: Another term for "cognitive reflection" is "introspection". This gives us a nice dichotomy: introspection vs extrospection; a priori synthetic propositions vs a posteriori analytic propositions. Here's a shorter article on praxeology. He references heavily the artic...

Divine Focus: I suppose the key point is to distinguish between 1- "inner, reflectively produced experience" or "reflective cognition" and 2- "outer observation". Reflective cognition is not an "observational experience" in the same sense as outer observation....

I recently read this article ( http://mises.org/esandtam.asp ) on praxeology by Hans Hoppe. He completely destroys the idea that economics can be based on empiricism. From the article: "Economic statements and propositions are not derived from experience. They are, like those of logic and mathe...

Brad: Unfortunately some people quickly seek others to dominate them and power once again centralizes. Any reasoning to back that up? A libertarian society is based on nonaggression. So, any violent invasion of just property is criminal and punishable by law. I define law as "a rule of action a...

David: As I say, it depends on the quality of the individuals involved. For example, if everyone in a community was enlightened, then anarchy would probably be the natural outcome. Anarchy (a free society) would also be the best choice if everyone is unenlightened. Think about it: if people are corr...

Dan: What do you want to argue? That a free market capitalist system is the most rational way to socio-economically organise a society? Exactly. Shahrazad: You can't expect a philosopher to be an expert on economics. Nobody is an expert on everything. True. But, it is reasonable not to hold ignorant...

David is a bad choice for politics.

Why is that? How can you be dedicated to truth and reason, and yet ignore politics and economics? I think that we can apply reason to the realm of social organization.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?

...and yet, somehow, rational people have been known to hold positions other than a firm belief in the singular benefits free market capitalism. Are the politicians of countries like Canada and Sweden, which balance free market capitalism with socialism, thereby less dedicated to truth and reason t...

Trevor: Basically, what I'm saying is that if someone is truly dedicated to truth and reason then they must be a free market capitalist. It is the only rational position. Now, we can prove this by several different lines of thought: -morality -utilitarianism -consistency etc. Also, are you saying th...

Dan: Firstly, an argument is defined as a set of claims (premises) which establish another claim (conclusion). So, integral's post does constitute an argument. Secondly, the way critical thinkers analyze arguments is as follows: 1- Determine the validity i.e. whether the conclusion follows necessari...

Wow Unidian, you got schooled!
I'm not surprised you're afraid to actually debate the issue.
After all, logic and reason aren't for everyone!

Ron Paul wants to solve air pollution by defining air as private property. I'm sorry, but if people can't see the basic screaming insanity of that, nothing I possibly could say about it is going to help. It seems to me that free market capitalism should be especially appealing to thinking people, s...

I just saw a brilliant lecture by Austrian economist Hans Hoppe. He has some brilliant insights into democracy, wars and also guerrilla warfare. See it here: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid= ... 3744595911

Here is a really funny "debate" I (kulza23) had with someone on youtube on a Naomi Klein video: duhCider (3 hours ago) Show Hide 0 Reply | Spam All forms of economy and government represent the failure of human beings to act selflessly and lovingly towards each other. Thus, they are doomed...

If anyone wants a free market perspective by one of the greats, here is Milton Friedman on the case for legalization - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyystXOfDqo

Hands down, "What has government done to our money", by Murray Rothbard. It's a short book about applying free market principles to the lifeblood of the economy, money! Definitely the greatest book I read in 2007. A tour de force. You can find it online for free - right here: http://www.mi...