Higher Level Philosophical Studies

[Free Thinker]

I am bored. I am trying to find essays or studies that are more philosphical challenging that the essays the Capitalism magazine or ARI puts out. I know Binswanger is a solution, and I have already order his book and pamphlets. (His audio lectures are rather expensive.) Can anyone offer any suggestions?

[DavidOdden]

I am bored. I am trying to find essays or studies that are more philosphical challenging that the essays the Capitalism magazine or ARI puts out.

Stop reading: start writing. Seriously. Edited November 28, 2005 by Free Thinker

[Free Thinker]

Stop reading: start writing. Seriously.

Good idea. I have a blog, so I do that anyway.

[Hal]

What sort of topics? Philosophy is a pretty broad area.

There are some interesting posts on DPW's blog. Dianahsieh has some interesting essays on her site and her blog might be worth reading too, although there is far too much discussion of current events and "what X said about Ayn Rand in his blog!!!" for my tastes. If youre prepared to sift through it though, you might find something worthwhile. The problem with these sort of blogs is that they are updated a _lot_, and there isnt really any sort of filter that lets you find discussions that satisfy certain criteria (eg philosophy as opposed to politics), so youre left wading through a lot of stuff that isnt particularly relevant to what you want to read. DPW does have a 'best of' section though.

The archives of humanities.philosophy.objectivism can also be worth reading, but again, you'll have to do a _lot_ of sifting.

I would class all of the above as being 'higher level' discussion than capmag which, with the exception of a handful of writers, is horribly simplistic. But apart from that lot, I dunno. You could always buy things from the Ayn Rand book store. There's apparently a Journal of Ayn Rand Studies although I've never read it and dont really know anything about it.

edit: TOC hosts a few essays. Quality varies of course.

Edited August 15, 2005 by Hal

[DPW]

There are some interesting posts on DPW's blog. Dianahsieh has some interesting essays on her site and her blog might be worth reading too, although there is far too much discussion of current events and "what X said about Ayn Rand in his blog!!!" for my tastes. If youre prepared to sift through it though, you might find something worthwhile. The problem with these sort of blogs is that they are updated a _lot_, and there isnt really any sort of filter that lets you find discussions that satisfy certain criteria (eg philosophy as opposed to politics), so youre left wading through a lot of stuff that isnt particularly relevant to what you want to read. DPW does have a 'best of' section though.

Thanks for the kind mention. I've actually been thinking about putting together something akin to an online version of Harry Binswanger's defunct "The Objectivist Forum," that would contain more serious and more philosophical works on Objectivism, kind of along the lines of what the original poster seems to be looking for. The problem is, I'm not sure if there is (a) enough interest to make it economically feasible and ( enough Objectivists willing and able to write for it. If you would be interested (and able) to write for something like that, send me an email or a PM.

[Free Thinker]

Thanks for the kind mention.  I've actually been thinking about putting together something akin to an online version of Harry Binswanger's defunct "The Objectivist Forum," that would contain more serious and more philosophical works on Objectivism, kind of along the lines of what the original poster seems to be looking for.  The problem is, I'm not sure if there is (a) enough interest to make it economically feasible and ( enough Objectivists willing and able to write for it.  If you would be interested (and able) to write for something like that, send me an email or a PM.

Thanks. I will check out your site (DPW). I would love to get involved in the "Objectivist Forum"!

[softwareNerd]

I'd second David's idea: "start writing".

What you read depends on what you want to acheive. For instance, you might read the papers of variuous foundingn fathers, to understand what they were trying to acheive. You might read and compare ancient texts: from India, China and Greece. You could try reading Kant. You could read Adam Smith, Menger, Schumpeter, in economic. You could read Augustine, Aquinas and Luther.

The choices are varied. There is too much to read, and too little time.