Category: Philosophy

I have been pointing out recently that defenders of laissez-faire capitalism shift between philosophical frameworks when they are arguing, something I call capitalism whack-a-mole. They do this because there are no normative frameworks that justify laissez-faire capitalism and so there is no other way to actually muster an argument in its favor other than opportunistically… Continue reading Capitalism does not reward risk

Earlier, I explained the common argumentative strategy I call Capitalism Whack-a-Mole. People who utilize this strategy claim that they support capitalism for a specific normative reason (e.g. that it gives to each what they produce), but then, when you show that normative reason is actually inconsistent with capitalism, they shift to a totally new normative… Continue reading Desert-Sacrifice-Utility Whack-a-Mole

Earlier, I outlined the familiar game of capitalism whack-a-mole. In this game, proponents of capitalism shift constantly between the incompatible normative frameworks of voluntarism, desert, and utility. It’s funny because, during the whack-a-mole game, the underlying reasons that they claim to motivate them change dramatically, but their conclusions never do. Yesterday, I was host to… Continue reading Tradition-Aggression-Desert Whack-A-Mole

I wrote about the new hotness of mushy traditionalism (instead of conventional normative argument) being mobilized to somehow support libertarianism. I got this response from Adam Gurri, which am not satisfied with because it does not answer back my concerns, but rather rehashes an abstract explanation of what traditionalism means. To show I read it,… Continue reading Is Social Security defensible on traditionalist grounds or not?

Adam Gurri has been pushing this line for a while that his “libertarianism” is derived from some kind of status quo deferentialism and deference to prevailing norms, traditions, and so on. He wrote a post today somewhat defending that view even though it would have had him arguing for slavery 150 years ago, for Jim… Continue reading Some problems with this traditionalist stuff