Category: Philosophy

I found this hilariously exasperated piece from Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry on Tumblr while I was browsing the #pajamaboy tag. In it, Gobry says the problem with the legal realist point that all economic regimes are totally made up social constructs is that it denies people’s rights. What rights? Well, you know, the “inherent, natural, human right… Continue reading Does nature command the destruction of all human liberty?

In the Wall Street Journal, Thane Rosenbaum opines on the civilian status of the killed Gazans: The asymmetry is complicated even further by the status of these civilians. Under such maddening circumstances, are the adults, in a legal and moral sense, actual civilians? To qualify as a civilian one has to do more than simply… Continue reading Osama bin Laden in the Wall Street Journal

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, the poor man’s James Poulous, has an artistic piece against legal realism. For those unaware, legal realism is a descriptive account of economic institutions that recognizes that every single one of them are made up by legal and political bodies, including property law, contract law, patent law, copyright law, commercial law, corporate law,… Continue reading But what belongs to who?

I wrote one post about Just War Theory about a year ago. In it, I rehash a paper I wrote about the topic many years ago, in which I argued that the normative justification for the feudal-era principle of non-combatant immunity no longer applies to countries with liberal democratic governments. I still think that’s true,… Continue reading Damon Linker’s Just War Gloss

From Ozimek: Finally, incentivizing work is consistent with neo-classical, non-paternalistic framework when you remember that the government on net disincentivizes work and employment. Due to the progressive tax and transfer system, and the variety of implicit marginal tax rates people face, the status quo is that many people are probably working an inefficiently low amount.… Continue reading Government on net incentivizes work and employment