Academy of Metaphysical Naturalism Blogger Extra: November 2008

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Scientific Naturalism: Deterministic

Determinism: the doctrine that all the facts in the physical universe, and hence also in human history, are absolutely dependent upon and conditioned by their causes. In psychology: the doctrine that the will is not free but determined by psychical or physical conditions. Also called scientific naturalism.

This doctrine is expressed in the late 20th c. (and now 21st c.) thinking expressed by Susan Blackmore, Paul Bloom, Paul Broks, Daniel Dennett, Sheldon Drobny, Owen Flanagan, Ursula Goodenough, Joseph Hilbe, Nicholas Humphrey, Brian Leiter ,Thomas Metzinger, Tamler Sommers, and John Symons, a list supplied by the website The Center for Naturalism, operated by Tom Clark.

Clark himself explains the doctrine this way:

"Each of us is an unfolding natural process, and every aspect of that process is caused, and is a cause itself. [ ] Seeing that we are fully caused creatures - not self-caused - we can no longer take or assign ultimate credit or blame for what we do. [ ] We don’t have free will in the sense of being able to choose or decide without being fully caused in our choices or decisions. Instead, as individuals we are part of the natural unfolding of the universe in all its amazing complexity.

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© 2008 by Curtis Edward Clark and Naturalist Academy Publishing ®

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Friday, November 21, 2008

Man qua Man: References

"Man’s survival qua man” means the terms, methods, conditions and goals required for the survival of a rational being through the whole of his lifespan—in all those aspects of existence which are open to his choice."
Ayn Rand; “The Objectivist Ethics” The Virtue of Selfishness, 24

http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/standardofvalue.html

Also: Introduction to Aristotle

Also:

Metaphysical Naturalism's Direct Correlation with "Man qua Man"

Also: Thomas Aquinas to Duns Scotus

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Power Reserved to the People--Description

1) The Bill of Rights: Reserved Powers; byJacob G. Hornberger

The Constitution brought into existence the most unusual government in history. It was a government whose powers were limited to those enumerated in the document itself. If the power wasn’t enumerated, the government could not exercise it. Fearful that the newly formed government might try to break free of that enumerated-powers straitjacket, the American people, through their duly authorized representatives, enacted the Bill of Rights.

The first eight amendments to the Constitution expressly prohibit the federal government from denying people fundamental rights and important procedural protections. To ensure that federal officials would not later claim that the list of such rights was exclusive, the Ninth Amendment was enacted.

Then, to ensure that powers not expressly delegated to the federal government could still be exercised by the states, the Tenth Amendment was enacted. It reads as follows:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

2) "Description: American judges and legal scholars have long misunderstood the intended meaning of the Ninth Amendment and its relationship to the Tenth. Because of misinterpretation, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments have not been used to fulfill their original purposes. The limited and unlimited powers of the federal government have been shaped greatly by that error. In this book the authors clarify the actual meaning of the Ninth Amendment and its connection to the Tenth Amendment in order to provide a clear understanding of the full potential of the two amendments. Historical and contemporary details are included to provide an appreciation of the intended purpose of the amendments.

"Issues regarding the misinterpretation of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments are clearly outlined and explained in depth, including such topics as: *The drafting of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments *Enumerated, necessary and proper, and reserved powers of the state governments and *Substantive due process. The book also includes a bibliographical essay with information on alternative sources for grasping the intended meaning of the amendments." [emphasis added]

http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/GR1372.aspx

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Muslims Have Special Privileges in American Society

Muslims get last laugh at Swift: Plant must pay $365,000 to Muslims fired for walking off job http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/023476.php

An update on this story, which played out essentially as predicted although that earlier post referred to the controversy at a different plant. The principles in play are the same. "Minnesota Plant That Fired Muslims for Taking Prayer Breaks Will Pay $365,000," from AP, November 11 (thanks to Islam In Action):

MINNEAPOLIS — Under a settlement to a federal lawsuit, up to 100 Somali Muslims who are current or former workers at Gold'n Plump Inc. will receive a total of $365,000.

The settlement was filed in Minneapolis on Friday. It sprang from allegations of religious discrimination at the company's chicken processing plants in Cold Spring and Arcadia, Wis.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed lawsuits against St. Cloud-based Gold'n Plump and the Work Connection Inc., an employment agency in St. Paul, which handled some hiring for the plant.

Under the settlement, Gold'n Plump agreed to pay $215,000 to workers who were terminated for taking prayer breaks.

The Work Connection will pay $150,000 to workers who were asked to sign a form acknowledging that they might be required to handle pork, which many Muslims consider unclean....

So the proposition that Muslims have special privileges in American society, to which others are not privy, is now enshrined in precedent.

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The Free Assemblage of Metaphysical Naturalists is the SM of
The Free Assemblage of Metaphysical Naturalists LLC.
The Academy of Metaphysical Naturalism TM,
The Academy of Metaphysical Naturalism Blogger TM, and
Academy of Metaphysical Naturalism Blogger Extra TM are the educational arms of the LLC and are:

© 2008 by Curtis Edward Clark and Naturalist Academy Publishing ®

mailto:freeassemblage@gmail.com

http://freeassemblage.blogspot.com/

Academy of Metaphysical Naturalism Blogger Extra