New Online Campus for the Study of Philosophy!

I have recently being informed about a new Objectivist Philosophy Program coming online next January 10, 2012.  The program is sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute that will create an online Campus.

ARI Campus will allow students around the world to take courses at their own pace and on their own time—for free. Students at all levels will be able of exploring educational materials in multimedia courses.

Initial course offerings will include the following:

The full, public launch of the site is slated for September of 2012. Add to your calendars the date January 10, 2012 and log in to the initial courses that will be offered by the ARI Campus!

Win an Audiobook of Ayn Rand this Xmas!!!

I have decided to give a Christmas gift for my readers!  Starting today, December 05 until December 15 at 23:59 (UTC/GMT -6 hours) I will open the comment area of this post for you to WIN ONE AUDIOBOOK written by Ayn Rand!!!

THE OPTIONS ARE:

HOW TO WIN?

  1. Click “Like” in the Facebook Box on the Right.
  2. Write a comment and register with a valid e-mail in the Comment Area of this post.
    1. Share a short bio of who you are, where you live, etc.
    2. Include which book of the previous list you want to read (actually, to listen) and why.
    3. Tell us why you like Ayn Rand’s ideas, since when have you studied her works and which is your favorite book by her. Or maybe this will be your first time reading (listening) one of her books? Tell us that too and why you decided to participate!

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

  • I will announce the winner on December 16th. here at www.capitalisthistory.com after writing all your names in a paper, mixing them in a bag and choosing one without seeing!
  • The winner will receive the gift code of his chosen book from me on December 25th.


“The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: “Merry Christmas”—not “Weep and Repent.” And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form—by giving presents to one’s friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . .” Ayn Rand

Thanksgiving Greatest Quotes

Thanksgiving is a typically American holiday. In spite of its religious form (giving thanks to God for a good harvest), its essential, secular meaning is a celebration of successful production. It is a producers’ holiday. The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production. Abundance is (or was and ought to be) America’s pride—just as it is the pride of American parents that their children need never know starvation. Ayn Rand

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to recognize what we are truly grateful for, to appreciate and celebrate the fruits of our labor: our wealth, health, relationships and material things–all the values we most selfishly cherish. Debi Ghate

Free Webinar: Is there a moral way to go to war or fight a war?

  • When: Thursday, November 17th
  • Time: 1 PM Eastern (7 pm +1GMT)
  • Hosted by: Atlas Society
Standing by on a hilltop, Soldiers with the 10...
Image via Wikipedia

The Iraq war is winding down, but NATO remains heavily engaged in an ugly guerrilla war in Afghanistan. And the U.S. launches drone strikes against civilians world-wide as part of the “War on Terror.”

In this webinar, William R Thomas will discuss justice in the context of war-fighting.

  • Should there be restrictions on weapons or tactics?
  • Is there a workable distinction between combatants and non-combatants?

To answer these questions we need to ask what the goals of war-fighting are and how justice in wartime differs from justice in the normal context of life.

This interactive webinar will consist in a live slide-show with audio presentation that will run about 30 minutes. Then William Thomas will discuss questions from the audience. There’s time for everyone’s questions to be answered.

Space is allocated first-come, first-served.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at: www3.gotomeeting.com/register/199696406

Why Globalization Matters?

“It was by making myself a Catholic that I won the war of the Vendee [the war of counter-revolution in western  France], by making myself a Muslim that I established myself in Egypt, in making myself Ultramontane [a devotee of the papacy] that I won men’s hearts in Italy. If I were to govern a Jewish people, I would re-establish Solomon’s Temple.” Napoleon Bonaparte

It is with Napoleon’s astonishing remark that I decided to give you some light of what Globalization refers to and why I choose to write about it as one of the two pillars of my research.

The term Globalization (also referred to as Globalisation) refers to what many different historians considered a process of interrelation (or unification) of the world. It was a process of cultural, political and economic relations that for the first time in history united all mankind.

It has been the aim of historians to identify When does Globalization begun and How it begun.  But also, it has been their aim to question if Globalization as a process has already concluded or if it is an ongoing process in the 21st. Century.  As well, historians are still trying to explain if Globalization should be judged (or not) as the result of only positive (good) results in regard to increasing the wealth, culture and technology of the world; while other historians argue that Globalization has also resulted in poverty, losses, conquest and cannibalization.

Globalization has been studied from different approaches in Social Sciences. Sociologists and Anthropologists have focused on the cultural effects that the transfer of technology, mass migrations, institutions and products has had in different regions of the world. Political Theorists studied how Globalization affects the institutions, norms and hierarchical authorities in specific regions and how changes in other regions may have had altered the status quo. Economists study how globalization increased the commerce and transactions between regions and territories through trade, investments, and flows of capital just to mention a few.

In this blog I’ll aim to discuss Globalization as a process and a result of the interconnectedness of human’s psycho-epistemology in specific contexts and periods of history.  My mission is to study how human behavior is not determined by nature and how human free will (action that results from rational or irrational reasonings chosen between opportunity costs) has shaped the course of history until the present.

Continue reading “Why Globalization Matters?”