NationStates Jolt Archive

I like this kind of stuff, it's thought provoking.

http://www.jonathangullible.com/mmedia/PhilosophyOfLiberty-english_music.swf

If you're making New Years Resolutions, you can keep this flash in mind.

My reaction is nice animation, weak philosophy.

First, it makes the claim that one owns one's own life but does not actually use any arguments to support this. Still, it's pretty intuitive so we'll let it pass.

Even if one accepts ownership of one's own life, however, that does not necessarily mean that we have any innate rights. Certainly it does not lead to the ethical view that one should not violate the rights of others.

And even if we were to accept the notion of individual rights to go from there to property rights is tricky. The author of the flash file uses Locke's old labour mixing argument, but like most of Locke's arguments it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

And then when it starts talking about evil people... :rolleyes:

-snip-
Yeah I saw this before, pretty darn thought-provoking

the question is, of course, what counts as theft of property or enslavement of liberty? a more authoritarian person would undoubtedly choose a different 'boundary' of what is right or just for the many to do to the individual, be it theft (by any other name) of property or liberty, than a more libertarian person.

that is unless one takes the animation's philosophy at face value, in which case there are no boundaries - no just theft or 'enslavement' by the many, or government - which is a supremely, and wrongly so, black-and-white arguement in my view.

I like this kind of stuff, it's thought provoking.

http://www.jonathangullible.com/mmedia/PhilosophyOfLiberty-english_music.swf

If you're making New Years Resolutions, you can keep this flash in mind.
I've seen this before and it is well done, but a bit too "libertarian" for my taste. :(