Category: Philosophy

I think that figuring out how to implement a functioning socialist system is an indispensable part of advocating for such a system for two reasons. First, it is hard to know whether you actually want a system if you can’t even understand what that system will actually look like. Additionally, the maxim that “ought implies… Continue reading Implementing socialism

I wrote about just war theory and the principle of non-combatant immunity in my last post. The argument was that the feudal-era justification for non-combatant immunity that comes out of just war theory does not make much sense when applied to citizens of liberal governments. It was an abstract discussion with only a passing discussion… Continue reading What kinds of war tactics are justified for those resisting US/UK invasions?

About three years ago, I became interested in just war theory, a long-running literature about what makes warfare just. As you’d expect, the field has diverse opinions ranging from pacifists who say war is never just to realists who think talking about justice in the context of warfare is wrong-headed to begin with. In between… Continue reading Just war theory and the UK soldier killing

The most interesting thing about libertarians is that their normative arguments fail on their own terms. Well-constructed theories only permit disagreement on the basic principle level. Excepting consequentialist libertarians, libertarian theories are so bad that their basic principles don’t even generate the conclusions libertarians claim they do. The arguments are internally contradictory on a scale… Continue reading My favorite libertarian argument

Earlier this week, The Heritage Foundation released a report purporting to detail the costs of granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants. This report set off a flurry of wonky debates, with both conservative and liberal commentators criticizing the methodology and assumptions used by the report’s authors. The discussion that sprung up around this report followed the… Continue reading Why discussions of government benefits are so wrong