The Noblest Act

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Reasons Why I'm Open to Anarcho-Capitalism

A friend asked me for reasons why I'm open to anarcho-capitalism. This is what I said: One reason: a traditional government involves the use of force. It has to maintain a monopoly on the use of legal retaliatory force in a given area, and that involves force. Its fundraising mechanisms

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Quote Juxtaposition: Protecting the Spark

And philosophy consists in this: for a man to preserve that inner genius or divine spark within him from violence and injuries, and above all from harmful pains or pleasures; never to do anything either without purpose, or falsely, or hypocritically, regardless of the actions or inaction of others; -How

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Quote Juxtaposition - The Disapproval of Others

It is to a second-hander that the moral appraisal of himself by others is a primary concern which supersedes truth, facts, reason, logic. The disapproval of others is so shatteringly terrifying to him that nothing can withstand its impact within his consciousness; thus he would deny the evidence of his

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Quote Juxtaposition: The Importance of Purpose

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Quote from Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, Maxims and Arrows, 12. "When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is

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You Can't Want Both, #2

A passage in Epictetus' Discourses reminded me of the line in The Fountainhead I mentioned in this post. Here's a quote (bold added): To this topic you ought to devote yourself before every other, how, namely, you may avoid ever being so intimately associated with some one of your acquaintances

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Counter-rhetoric Example: "I'm an idiot"

As in this post, I'm going to discuss an applied example of the idea of counter-rhetoric. This example is to examine the expression "I'm an idiot." It's common for people with low self-esteem to exaggerate their faults and mistakes, and this expression, which I say or think sometimes, is a

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Values Clarification #5

In my last post in this series, I decided that I did not have a clear answer to the question "What’s ultimately the most important thing in life to you?", since my values are somewhat of a muddle, which I think is a common condition. I then said I'd

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Values Clarification #4

So let's recap. I started off my first post in this series considering how I lacked an answer to the question "What’s ultimately the most important thing in life to you?" Next I considered some concrete things that I value and grouped them into categories. Next I considered some

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Values Clarification #3

In a previous post I listed some things I value and talked about some categories of values (basic physical needs, conveniences, and stuff that engages the mind). I also introduced but didn't discuss the topic of happiness as being important to determining what's an important value. Let's ponder a quote

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Counter-Rhetoric Example - "I'm Starving"

In light of some prior posts about counter-rhetoric, I realized that I have been subconsciously engaging in a rhetorical use of language. I sometimes think about the state of being hungry with the language "I'm starving." I realized that I seem to think of hunger in this way when I'm

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Values Clarification #2

In a previous post I talked about some questions from How to Think Like a Roman Emperor that I thought worth considering: What’s ultimately the most important thing in life to you? What do you really want your life to stand for or represent? What sort of person do

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Values Clarification #1

From How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoics employed the Socratic method of questioning, the elenchus, which exposes contradictions in the beliefs of the person being questioned—a bit like the cross-examination of a witness in a court of law. They believed above all that the wise man

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A Stoic Morning Meditation

Some discussion of a Stoic morning meditations from How to Think Like A Roman Emperor: Regarding the morning meditation, Galen says that as soon as you rise from bed and begin considering each of the tasks ahead, you should ask yourself two questions: 1. What would the consequences be if

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Being Thought Foolish

Enchiridion by Epictetus, Chapter 13: If you would improve, be content to be thought foolish and dull with regard to externals. Do not desire to be thought to know anything; and though you should appear to others to be somebody, distrust yourself. For be assured, it is not easy at

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You Can't Want Both

Enchiridion by Epictetus, Chapter 13: For be assured, it is not easy at once to keep your will in harmony with nature and to secure externals; but while you are absorbed in the one, you must of necessity neglect the other. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines "external" in the

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Wanting to Do Things Best Done Behind Closed Doors

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, George Hays translation: Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust, or lose your sense of shame, or makes you show hatred, suspicion, ill will, or hypocrisy, or a desire for things best done behind closed doors. The specific part I

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ChatGPT Is Nifty But Seems Limited

I've played with ChatGPT some. It has its uses. For example, it came up with this amusing story regarding Kirby and Trump: However, outside of humor, its utility seems more limited. I tried to solve a fairly involved Microsoft Excel task with it. I tried a number of times before

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Decatastrophizing Worksheet Analysis

Following up on a theme of a previous post , I've been looking at decatastrophizing worksheets. Here's an example: I think it's interesting and wanted to talk about how it works and what it's doing. Basically, it's breaking down how to think rationally about the likelihood of some negative outcome in

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Learned A Thing

I went through a good chunk of a Udemy course about Git and Github (the parts I thought were relevant for my gaols) and made flashcards with RemNote. Because of that, I now should be able to actually maintain my fork of the Casper theme for this blog (I'd let

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Selling Your Soul

From Seneca's Letters From a Stoic, Letter 42, "On Values": Therefore, with regard to the objects which we pursue, and for which we strive with great effort, we should note this truth; either there is nothing desirable in them, or the undesirable is preponderant. Some objects are superfluous; others are

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Not Delaying the Study of Philosophy

I liked this quote about not delaying the study of philosophy. Apparently this is an old problem. From Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic, Letter 17: Why, then, should you reject Philosophy as a comrade? Even the rich man copies her ways when he is in his senses. If you

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Getting Basics Down

I regularly review a list of Stoic-related questions that ask, among other things, whether I distinguished between things over which I have control and things over which I don't have control. I review this list every day, and most days I find that I was at least somewhat concerned about

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Mini Habits

I like and recommend the book Mini Habits and How to Be an Imperfectionist by Stephen Guise. He talks about the idea of setting goals small enough that you can't fail at them (like doing 1 push-up or writing 50 words) as a way to get started in improving your

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Watching Movies

Didn't watch much in the way of movies for a really long time. Have watched more recently. I've found it easier to actually get through movies if I just treat them like e.g. 4 30 minute episodes of a TV show and watch them accordingly (finding appropriate breakpoints in

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Practicing Becoming Less Second-Handed

Ayn Rand was very critical of second-handers and second-handedness (it's a major theme in The Fountainhead). In the essay "The Argument From Intimidation" in The Virtue of Selfishness, she talks about what she means by second-handedness (using the equivalent term "social metaphysician"): A social metaphysician is one who regards the