Category Archives: Philosophy

Rights: nonsensical, empirical and hypothetical

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on December 18, 2010

If there is one thing that characterizes contemporary political discourse, and contemporary political liberalism in particular, it is the obsession with “rights.” Individual rights are absolute, or “trumps,” that do not permit to be overridden by collective goals, and can … Continue reading →

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Andy Nowicki’s Considering Suicide

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on November 27, 2010

Andy Nowicki’s book ‘Considering Suicide’ belongs to, what I would call, the cultural alienation genre. Nowicki’s alienation is not of the Marxist variety that rails against division of labor and harbors the juvenile desire that all work should be play. … Continue reading →

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Anthony de Jasay on liberalism, democracy and conventions

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on October 1, 2010

Despite losing his eyesight, Anthony de Jasay still publishes some of the most thought-provoking papers in social philosophy. In a recent article for the Institute of Economic  Affairs, de Jasay inspects the foundations of liberalism and observes that: In contrast … Continue reading →

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Jim Crawford against natural rights

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on August 4, 2010

Jim Crawford’s autobiographical antinatalist manifesto Confessions of an Antinatalist(review here) contains an illuminating perspective on the idea of natural rights: Concurrent with our wish to understand the human condition through over-simplification is our tendency to ground human desire and behavior … Continue reading →

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