Jason Kuznicki has a way-too-long fictional dialogue where he tries to show you that, if you operate under historically-bound ideological assumptions, things that deviate from the historically-bound ideological assumptions seem weird. He did a great job. I have been wanting to do initial appropriation in dialogue for a long time now, and so I am… Continue reading Initial Appropriation: A Dialogue
Author: Matt Bruenig
Libertarian Julian Sanchez Agrees Non-Aggression Is Circular
Shortly after I first learned of the non-aggression principle (NAP) and how it was supposed to justify libertarian property rights, it occurred to me that it was hopelessly circular. This was around 6-7 years ago. It baffled me why so many libertarians I knew used this principle in argument and why they could not understand,… Continue reading Libertarian Julian Sanchez Agrees Non-Aggression Is Circular
How a reductio ad absurdum works
I wrote about the non-aggression principle at Demos today. I explained that the principle that you should not initiate force against other people generates the conclusion that we must create the grab-what-you-can world. In this world, people are free to do whatever they want so long as they do not literally bring force against another… Continue reading How a reductio ad absurdum works
This book about poor people is not basically about rich people
Some people really loved the Economic and Political Manuscripts of 1844, which Marx never published. I call those people alienation Marxists or sometimes species-being Marxists. Those from high socioeconomic backgrounds seem especially prone to becoming species-being Marxists, presumably because all the stuff about exploiting the proletariat is of little use to them personally. Chris Maisano,… Continue reading This book about poor people is not basically about rich people
False statistic: 76 percent of American faculty are adjuncts
Miya Tokumitsu has a solid piece in Jacobin about the issues with the “Do What You Love” work advice. She makes a mistake at one point thought: The reward for answering this higher calling is an academic employment marketplace in which 76 percent of American faculty are adjunct professors — contract instructors who usually receive low… Continue reading False statistic: 76 percent of American faculty are adjuncts