tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post5676417665559261598..comments2024-03-27T05:47:21.295-07:00Comments on Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature: Rand and Empirical Responsibility 4Daniel Barneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06359277853862225286noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-58641995898461238022010-12-18T01:49:46.505-08:002010-12-18T01:49:46.505-08:00During depression the person seems to become pessi...During depression the person seems to become pessimistic. The therapy helps to change the pessimistic ideas as well as the unrealistic expectations. Sometime critical self evaluation can also cause depression. This therapy can even help you out of it.cognitive behaviour therapyhttp://www.cognitivebehaviourtherapy.com.au/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-29133129398883939642010-12-17T11:33:06.893-08:002010-12-17T11:33:06.893-08:00"I think this goes to show how wrong it is to..."I think this goes to show how wrong it is to think that all human behavior is the result of culture and upbringing."<br /><br />Yes, that's true; but even more wrong is to use this conviction to believe that human behavior can be steered or shaped toward certain ends. That's, in large part, the <i>raison d'ĂȘtre</i> behind the whole belief: Rand and her followers want to believe that, through the Objectivist philosophy, they can change the course of history by changing the culture. Fortunately, orthodox Objectivism has too many doctrines that turn off people to have become influential; otherwise, it might have, through such eccentricities as Peikoff's bizarre fatwa against Republicans and conservatives, weakened resistance against the left.gregnyquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13653516868316854941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-12195051910970261042010-12-14T15:46:39.712-08:002010-12-14T15:46:39.712-08:00Greg,
I think this goes to show how wrong it is t...Greg,<br /><br />I think this goes to show how wrong it is to think that all human behavior is the result of culture and upbringing.Damienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02691850040385670009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-33236782327078535762010-12-14T11:15:47.304-08:002010-12-14T11:15:47.304-08:00Jim,
Nice to hear from you. I've read your es...Jim,<br /><br />Nice to hear from you. I've read your essays and find them both very well done. The only small caveat I might entertain in regards the "Courting Disaster" essay involves the use of ABCT. In your explication of it you have emphasized those elements of the ABCT that are most difficult to understand and appreciate for non-Austrians, such as Miseian a priorism, "time preference," "pure interest rate," and "capital structure," etc. I would have emphasized the more transparent, explicable, less jargonistic side of the ABCT, namely, the insight that prices convey critical information that cannot realistically be conveyed by other means, and that inflation via credit expansion, precisely because that inflation affects some prices far more intensely than others (macroeconomics, by definition as it were, is incapable of appreciating this), causes some prices to mislead investors. Couched in these terms, it becomes easier to relate Austrian insights to the stock market and real estate booms of the 20s. Credit expansion was directed almost entirely into real estate and asset prices, rather than toward consumer goods (consumer prices fell slightly during the 20s), creating a speculative mania which only additional credit expansion could maintain. But since credit expansion must expand debt outstanding, it can't be maintained ad infinitum, making a day of reckoning inevitable. <br /><br />P.S. My email address is gregnyquist@gmail.comgregnyquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13653516868316854941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196034.post-65602442688216013752010-12-13T19:41:21.012-08:002010-12-13T19:41:21.012-08:00Hey Greg,
This is Jim Caton. I could not find you...Hey Greg,<br /><br />This is Jim Caton. I could not find your email address, so this will have to do. I have a couple papers I want you to look at. One is titled "Thomas Paine v. Edmund Burke: A Look at Their Metaphysical Beliefs and the Nature of Their Arguments" and the other "Courting Disaster: How Inflationary Central Banking Policies Made the Great Depression Unavoidable."<br /><br />Read them here: http://theknowledgeproblem.blogspot.com/James Catonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14807595180565488334noreply@blogger.com