2020 – The Origin of Rights

The Fallacy of Ambiguity in the Non-Aggression Principle

By Neil December 14, 2020Epistemology, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy

The Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) is an effectively axiomatic element of libertarian political philosophy. However, it suffers from a fallacy of ambiguity that results in omitting forms of aggression that are…

The Categories of Well-Being

By Neil December 12, 2020Economics, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy

THE Categories of Well-Being is a universal hierarchy of intrinsic life values.[1] While each value is higher[2] than the previous, this does not indicate or suggest that the lower intrinsic…

A Priorism: Impositionism or Reflectivism?

By Neil December 9, 2020Economics, Epistemology, Ontology, Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, Praxeology, Social Ontology

A priori in philosophy refers to knowledge that is independent of experience, such as mathematics and logic. Praxeological economic theory is a priori in the sense that it is not…

The Teleological Basis of Rights

By Neil December 8, 2020Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy, Praxeology

TELEOLOGY has fallen into general disrepute as a result of materialist and physicalist metaphysical worldviews which mostly gained prominence during the general European enlightenment period reaching its peak in the…

The Basis of Methodological Individualism

By Neil December 7, 2020Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Social Ontology

THE neurobiological account of rights robustly supports a methodological individualism, for there can be no conscious entities outside of individual organisms.[1] This neurobiological account further establishes clear boundaries between conscious…

The Critical Importance of Collective Intentionality

By Neil December 4, 2020Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy, Social Ontology

“[…] unless there is some form of collective recognition of property rights, and unless the participants have the concept of a “right” in the first place, the system of private…

The Neurobiological Basis of Rights

By Neil December 3, 2020Philosophy of Law, Philosophy of Mind, Political Philosophy

At a glance: Self-ownership is a neurobiological phenomenon resulting from the nature of man as a conscious biological organism;The neurophysiology of core-consciousness is the basis of self-ownership and is the…

Action Implies Self-Ownership

By Neil December 2, 2020Philosophy of Mind, Political Philosophy, Praxeology

“The point that I am making now is not that action creates a self, but that action presupposes a self.”John R. Searle [1] THE Action Axiom of praxeology implies self-ownership: …

Constitutions and Their Interpretation

By Neil December 2, 2020Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy

IN a previous blog post, the linguistic deontological character of social institutions was discussed based on the work of the philosopher John Searle (2010). This ontological understanding of social institutions…

Social Ontology and Political Philosophy

By Neil December 2, 2020Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, Political Philosophy, Praxeology, Social Ontology

THERE can be no informed political philosophy without an adequate social ontology, which has remained a severely undeveloped area of philosophy for centuries and, therefore, hindered political philosophy. The philosopher…