Heroic Man

I just saw Pride & Prejudice. I wasn't eager to see it (I went to accompany my wife and daughter), but I was pleasantly surprised and truly enjoyed the movie. And I was surprised that the two lead characters displayed personalities that made me think of Objectivism. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bennet (played by Keira Knightley) is a strong, young woman who knows what she wants from life, is not willing to compromise her ideals, and has enough pride to stand up for herself and not back down when pressured by her overbearing mother and by people of higher social station. Darcy (played by Matthew Macfayden) is not possessing of social graces, but he knows what he values and displays the integrity and persistence to obtain what he values, without trying to take shortcuts. Both characters possess independent minds, trust their own judgments of people and situations, and are willing to re-evaluate their judgments in the light of new information. Darcy, when he realizes the basis of Lizzie's poor opinion of him, does not spend time trying to "talk his way out of it", but instead pursues a course of actions that will demonstrate his true character to Lizzie. He lets his actions speak for him, and he has the patience to wait for Lizzie to learn of his actions and change her opinion of him in her own time. I recommend the movie to you, and am interested to hear your views of it.

From Robert Tracinski's TIA Daily (21-Dec-2005): An Appeal from a Law Student in Poland [Editor's Note: I just received this e-mail from a law student in Poland looking for information on Objectivism's philosophy of law. I thought the best way to answer this question would be to send this out to TIA Daily's readers, who I know include many lawyers and experts on law. If you have a response, just reply ([email protected]) to this e-mail, and I'll forward it on to Mr. Stremecki. Also, feel free to forward today's TIA Daily to anyone who you think would have good information to offer. With the authors' permission, I will also publish some of the best responses in TIA Daily; I am also offering Mr. Stremecki a free student subscription to TIA Daily. Post-communist Poland is a country trying to move toward a free-market system, and I think we have a terrific opportunity to spread Objectivist ideas there. This is a good opportunity to help make that happen.--RWT] Hi! My name is Dawid. I'm from Poland. My case is peculiar, but I don't know anybody who can help me. I have just got a master's degree from a law school in Poland, and right now I am preparing to get a doctor's degree in law as well, but to get this I need to write a thesis. I have chosen to do research about Objectivism and its point of view on law, but it's hard to find any resources about it, because Ayn Rand was not a lawyer and she did not write about law as much as I need. She almost focused only on antitrust law. I've read almost every book by Ayn Rand, and few of other [Objectivist] authors. But generally it's hard to find specific material for lawyers. My question is: if you could help me to point out, where can I find specific information about: 1. Criminal law - capital punishment, hate crimes 2. Labour law 3. Civil law - contracts 4. Constitutional law 5. Property law - zoning, eminent domain, etc. 6. Banking and credit law - central bank 7. Business law - concessions, permissions, licenses 8. Trade law 9. Tax law 10. Intellectual property 11. International law 12. Theory and philosophy of objective law and objective state. Yours sincerely, -- Dawid Stremecki