Bøger af Ari Armstrong

The adventure stories of the boy wizard Harry Potter tap life's most pressing questions about love and values, evil, free will, and the soul. Ari Armstrong's Values of Harry Potter explores the complex themes of J. K. Rowling's beloved novels, illuminating the heroic fight for life-promoting values, the hero's need for independence, and the role of choice in virtue. Drawing on the ideas of Aristotle and Ayn Rand, Armstrong then critiques the Christian elements of self-sacrifice and immortality, arguing that they ultimately clash with the essential nature of the hero as exemplified by Harry Potter and his allies. Values of Harry Potter offers a unique, succinct, and provocative look at Rowling's revolutionary novels for both enthusiasts and critics. This Expanded Edition also reviews the novels' psychology, government, and news media.

"An engaging discussion and critique of Rand's metaethics and ethics. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Rand." -Jason Brennan (When All Else Fails, Against Democracy) Ayn Rand bases her morality of selfish egoism on a flawed conception of value, argues Ari Armstrong in What's Wrong with Ayn Rand's Objectivist Ethics. Values are not, as Rand has it, inherently oriented to an organism's survival, either for people or for living things broadly. Rather, people experience certain things as ends in themselves and value some things (such as having and raising children) for reasons other than to advance their survival. Although Rand and her advocates seek to make sense of the biology of values, the nature of human life, ends in themselves, happiness, and moral virtues, ultimately their efforts do not rescue Rand's theory. Further, Rand's theory cannot adequately explain why a person should consistently respect others' rights, avoid free riding, and engage civically. Armstrong, long an Objectivist before concluding that Rand's moral theory has intractable problems, proposes an alternate way to conceive of a person's ultimate value, one that recognizes many of Rand's insights while making more room for the interests of others. The book offers insights and challenges for those who are new to Rand's ideas as well as to those who have long studied Rand's philosophy. The work dives deeply into the literature on Rand's moral theory, for those interested, with detailed notes and an extensive appendix exploring major works on the topic. The book includes the following chapters: 1. Ayn Rand's Selfishness2. Reviewing the Objectivist Ethics3. The Essential Fallacies of Rand's Ethics4. The Error in Rand's Biology5. Values, Life, and Death6. Robots, Man Qua Man, and the Choice to Live7. Egoism and Rights8. Egoists, Free Riders, and Charity9. Rethinking the Ultimate ValueAppendix: The Literature on Rand's Moral Theory Ari Armstrong is the author of Reclaiming Liberalism and Values of Harry Potter, and he publishes the Colorado Freedom Report. He has written for such publications as the Colorado Sun and the Objective Standard and appeared on television and radio programs including CNN, Denver's 9News, and Devil's Advocate. Ari was the recipient of the Modern Day Sam Adams award and the Independence Institute's Vern Bickel Award for Grassroots Leadership, and he was a finalist for the Hoiles Prize for regional journalism. Please follow Ari's work by joining his email list and social media feeds via AriArmstrong.com.

"Ari Armstrong stands in the best tradition of classical liberalism: firm in his convictions, open to rational persuasion, willing to admit when he doesn't know, willing to insist on what he does know, and willing to defend to the death his right-and the right of every person-to know and understand through reason. In a climate of pervasive irrationality, Armstrong's writing is a glimpse of a better world, a world of reason and freedom, that's open to all of us if we're willing." -Timothy Sandefur, author of The Permission Society From "Reclaiming Liberalism" "To effectively advance their cause, true liberals-people who in fact advocate liberty in all affairs, personal and economic-must reclaim the mantle of liberalism. The authoritarians, the statists, the collectivists who stole the term liberalism from its rightful heirs must be stripped of their rhetorical masks and exposed for what they are: enemies of human freedom." Reclaiming Liberalism and Other Essays on Personal and Economic Freedom brings together the title essay plus thirty-two others. "Reclaiming Liberalism" examines the meaning of the term liberal, linking it to the tradition of individual rights; explains why genuine liberals should not let statists steal their rightful title; and distinguishes liberalism from conservatism and libertarianism. Other essays, published over previous years, explore the lure of utopia; defend equality before the law, not of outcomes; champion freedom of speech; defend capitalism; critique the nanny state; and address other critical issues of our times. Contents: 1. Reclaiming Liberalism Liberalism Pertains to Liberty The Incoherence of Conservatism Conservatism, Utopianism, and Liberalism Liberalism as Radical and Rational The Problem with Left and Right The Long-Term Reclamation of Liberalism Why Not Libertarianism? Renewing the Fight for Liberty 2. Utopia and Totalitarianism The Irrationality of Neil deGrasse Tyson's Rationalia Sam Harris's Collectivist Politics 3. Liberty and Equality "You Didn't Build That"-Obama's Ode to Envy The Justice of Income Inequality Under Capitalism Egalitarianism versus Rational Morality on Income Inequality Challenging the Inequality Narrative An Aristotelian Account of Responsibility and Luck A Parable for Thomas Piketty 4. Capitalism Contra Occupiers, Profits Embody Justice Sparking a Free Market Revolution The Fruits of Capitalism Are All Around Us 5. Freedom of Speech A Lesson on Censorship When Politics Corrupts Money Why Forcibly Limiting Campaign Spending is Censorship The Egalitarian Assault on Free Speech Campaign Laws Throw Common Sense Out the Window Ruling Furthers Free Speech 6. Welfare and Taxes Questioning the Welfare State The Integrity of Condemning Social Security While Collecting It Nation Needs Shared Liberty, Not Sacrifice The Crucial Distinction Between Subsidies and Tax Cuts 7. Liberty for Producers The Moral Case Against Minimum Wage Laws The Morality of Unequal Pay for Unequal Work Hobby Lobby and Equal Rights On the Right Not to Bake a Cake Businessmen Should Never "Put Moral Judgments Aside" Religious Freedom Laws vs. Equal Protection of Rights 8. Immigration Amnesty for Rights-Respecting Illegal Immigrants A Rights-Respecting Immigration Policy 9. The Nanny State Government Destroys Buckyballs, Assaults the Mind Should Prostitution Be legal? Morality and Sanity Demand an End to Drug Prohibition 10. Coda