October | 2013 | Objectivism In Depth

I had an enjoyable and productive discussion with a lovely young woman on her blog. Theresa Fross just turned 18, and I can tell that she’s open to new ideas. She’s clearly intelligent and thoughtful, and we discussed Ayn Rand’s novels, the nature of life, values, self-interest, Christianity, and Buddhism. The discussion starts midway down the comments section, then, at one point, continues above my first post:

My discussion with Theresa Fross

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Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Institute, discusses the immorality of the government forcing people to pay for the health care of others:

You Are Not Your Neighbor’s Health Care Provider

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Alex Epstein, president of the Center for Industrial Progress, gives a lecture at Vassar College on how Fossil Fuels Improve the Planet. Right now, it is only fossil fuels that make the current human population of the earth sustainable. His talk was momentarily disrupted by environmentalist protesters:

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Everyone who agrees that liberty is a good thing should read this book:

Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government by Yaron Brook and Don Watkins

I especially recommend it for those who are sympathetic to the Tea Party Patriots.

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Why Healthcare in the US is So Expensive, and What Can Be Done About It

Atlas Shrugged, Altruism and Egoism

What Caused the Financial Crisis: It Wasn’t Capitalism or Deregulation

Fossil Fuels and Environment: McKibben vs. Epstein, Full Debate

Are you saying you’re certain that that’s the probability distribution?

Whenever anyone says that some statement’s truth is probable, whether they give a numerical percentage or not, they are making a definite knowledge claim: that the statement’s truth is probable. Whether the probability is measured by a percentage, or relative to some other statement(s), the person is claiming that that is the probability’s measure.

In other words, the person claiming a probability is claiming a certainty about the probability, itself.

If such a person claims that his estimate of the probability is based on another probability, then the question becomes, “What is the prior probability based on?” The failure to provide at least one certainty at the foundation of one’s estimate of such probabilities leads to an infinite regress, or to a baseless circle–neither of which is rationally tenable.

Thus, for any claim of probability to be based in reason, it must be founded on at least one absolute certainty. And so a claim about the probability of any statement’s truth implies at least one claim to certain knowledge.

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Related Posts:

Taking Philosophy Seriously…

Objectivism vs. Intrinsicism vs. Subjectivism: A Short Summary

The Arbitrary (from The Objectivism Seminar)

The Bible (New Testament) as Evidence

Proceeding from Axioms in Objectivism – YouTube Edition