It is unethical to deliberately begin a war without the provocation of an attack or definite knowledge and forewarning of attack. It is not only unethical, incidentally, but banned by the United Nations, under rules that the United States itself principally wrote. In the event that an unprovoked attack occurs and lives are taken, …
Freedom: without freedom one cannot make one’s own choices. Even in the free West most people live imprisoned in their own minds by convention, religion, ignorance and laziness. Independent thought: Thinking for yourself is nature’s greatest gift. be autonomous, listen to others, be brave enough to change one’s mind given better arguments and evidence. Dignity …
Continue reading ‘Epicurean values: Essential values for the good life’ »
I am indebted to Professor John Bellamy Foster for the observation that Epicureans were not always apolitical; it was more complex than that. They opposed a tyrant in at least one case. Life and history are seldom straightforward and simple and the nuances trip us up as we try to simplify to understand. So if …
A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves. Epicurus was an intelligent man. He wasn’t (I fondly believe) consumed with ideological narrow-mindedness and did not constantly hearken back to the written-in-stone teachings of outdated gurus and prophets. He was, in a word, educated and could think for himself. Alive today, he …
No one would argue that it is the job of a government to defend its citizens from terrorism or military attack. A government should defend against all attacks, where it has the power to do so. It follows that the government has yet another failure on its hands . It stood by and failed to …
