Dmitry Chernikov’s Blog

David Friedman has authored a penetrating article on how game theory can help escape the Hobbesian jungle. In it he uses the notion of Schelling points to make his case. A Schelling point is (in a game) a unique choice among many which is chosen by all people playing the game who cannot talk with [...]

The contemplation can be of something external or of something internal to a person. If it is of something external, such as of God, then the sight of it causes enjoyment. If it is of the internal state, then it brings about a realization that one is content, at least in some aspect, and no [...]

In order to prove that being and (2nd-level metaphysical) goodness are the same “really,” we have to show both that whatever has being is good and that whatever is good has being. Aquinas’ argument in (ST, I, 5, 1) proves the second part of the conjunction. To sum it up: that is good which is [...]

Psychological egoism states that people do actually seek their own happiness and their own happiness alone. I think that this view is unimpeachable and true. Therefore, ethical egoism, the view that man ought to maximize his pleasure, is superfluous, in that it is pointless to ascribe a duty to do what is performed out of [...]

Reposting with an update. There are several ways to think about the four causes: (1) Form and matter are concerned with an object’s essence, while the efficient and final causes, with its existence. The former two ask, What is X? (E.g., such and such form-in-matter.) The latter, What makes X exist? (E.g., such and such [...]

According to Locke, primary qualities are qualities like extension, figure, motion or rest, and number. These “inhere” in bodies; that is, the simple ideas produced in human minds by them somehow resemble them. The idea here is that the collection of corpuscles that we perceive as a cup really is shaped like a cup; we [...]

That’s what Mises calls labor which is done for reasons other than the consequences or output of labor, that is, other than the end product of working. Here are some examples of such labor. Work as exercise, “to make his mind and body strong, vigorous, and agile.” (Human Action, 587) Here the disutility of labor [...]

Sidgwick writes that “many pleasures, — especially those of sight, hearing and smell, together with many emotional pleasures, — occur to me without any perceptible relation to previous desires.” (The Methods of Ethics, 45) Suppose that you go outside and breathe some fresh air and are delighted at the good weather. It seems that you [...]

A person is said to have a holy will when he enjoys doing his duties. At first this seems like a strange notion. For duties are categorical: you must not kill, you must fulfill your part of the bargain, etc. They constrain your free will. So, enjoying performing your duties is like enjoying being in [...]

The evil is at both sides of the coerced “transaction.” The receiver may be paid for some services, e.g., as a government teacher, or simply because he is poor. In the first case the socialist calculation problem arises, as the bureaucrat cannot know if his salary is justified by his productivity. The consumers have no [...]

The difference between freedom and power is a bit subtle. Freedom is not being acted on in a disagreeable manner. Power, on the contrary, is acting or ability to act in an agreeable manner. Freedom often has a social connotation, being associated with other human beings’ not acting on you contrary to your desires. But [...]

Henry Sidgwick makes the following startling statement: For though doubtless a man may often best promote his own happiness by laboring and abstaining for the sake of others, it seems to be implied in our common notion of self-sacrifice that actions most conducive to the general happiness do not — in this world at least [...]

As recounted in Simple Rules for a Complex World, Ronald Dworkin makes a distinction between “personal” and “external” preferences. Apparently, personal preferences are those made without the input of other people; external preferences depend on “the views that others have for him or for his way of life.” (314) This distinction is tenable only if [...]

Dear Congressman Ryan, I would like you to support Congressman Ron Paul in his efforts to reestablish the gold standard and even take the power of money creation away from of the Federal Reserve and the federal government. The idea is to de-monopolize money, allow private minting, let people use any medium of exchange they [...]

Choosing one’s employees or customers is a corollary of freedom of association, a freedom as important and as obviously “natural” as the right to own one’s body and right to make contracts. And a crucial part of freedom of association is freedom not to associate. But Michael Levin is surely right when he says that [...]

That’s an actual bumper sticker I saw today. It did not occur to the sticker’s owner that the reason for drug-related violence is precisely his very efforts to resist drugs via outlawing of them.

In the spirit of rule utilitarianism, let me say that what is worth conserving are only good laws, morals, manners, etiquette, institutions, virtues, and practices. If I saw that our rules of living and doing business were indeed worthy of preservation, I would happily join the most traditionalist of SJ Guardian conservatives in protecting these [...]

Mises insists that the human mind has a logical structure. Experience is not written upon a blank slate; it is interpreted by the mind. That which receives experience has its own properties. The properties Mises calls “categories.” “The categories are a priori; they are the mental equipment of the individual that enables him to think [...]

The starkest way to put the problem of evil is as follows: If God is my Father, then why hasn’t He guarded and guided me throughout my life? How come He hasn’t taught me everything I need to know to remain innocent and become wise? The mistakes I have made could easily have been avoided [...]

“What is there to decide whether a particular pleasure is worth purchasing at the cost of a particular pain, except the feelings and judgment of the experienced?” (Mill, Utilitarianism, 11) All valuations, all subjective goods and evils, all pleasures and pains, no matter how diverse, become commensurable in the process of choice. There is a [...]