Philosophy Weekend: News from Philosophy in Action

Every Saturday, I post the news of the week from my primary work, Philosophy in Action, where I apply rational principles to the challenges of real life. Here's this week's update.

Upcoming Radio Shows

Philosophy in Action Radio broadcasts live over the internet on most Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings. Below are the episodes upcoming this week. I hope that you join us! More upcoming episodes can be found here: Episodes on Tap.

Sunday morning, 21 September 2014: Q&A on Blaming Crime Victims, Concealed Carry Permits, Hijacking Ideas, More

I'll answer these questions on the live broadcast of Philosophy in Action Radio on Sunday morning, 21 September 2014.

• Question 1: Blaming Crime Victims: Is it wrong to suggest that a crime victim should have taken greater precautions? My wife and I were discussing the recent iCloud data breach in which a hacker stole and published nude photos of hundreds of female celebrities. I made the comment that while the hacker’s actions were despicable, at the same time I thought the celebrities were stupid to have trusted iCloud to protect the privacy of their photos in the first place. My wife balked at this, saying that this amounts to blaming the victim, and is no better than saying a woman who is raped was stupid for wearing a short skirt, or for drinking alcohol. But I see it as being more akin to saying a person whose bag was stolen from their car was stupid for leaving the door unlocked. Do comments of this sort really amount to ‘blaming the victim’? Is it proper or improper to make such comments? Does my level of expertise or the victim's level of expertise make any difference? (As a computer engineer, I am very aware of the dangers of the cloud, whereas your average celebrity would probably be clueless about it.) Intuitively, I feel like the comments would be improper in my wife’s example, proper in my example, and I’m unsure about the data breach itself. But I’m struggling to identify what the defining characteristics are for each case. What's the right approach here?
• Question 2: The Validity of Concealed Carry Permits: Should concealed carry permits be required to carry firearms concealed? In the United States today, most states have "shall-issue" concealed carry laws, whereby the sheriff of a county must issue a concealed carry permit to anyone who meets the requirements. Those requirements usually include no history of criminal activity, no history of mental illness, and some training. However, two states permit "constitutional carry," meaning that any law-abiding citizen has a right to carry a concealed firearm, without the need for a permit. Is requiring a "concealed carry" permit a violation of the right to self-defense? Or is "constitutional carry" a dangerous form of anarchy?
• Question 3: Hijacking Ayn Rand's Ideas: What can be done to prevent the hijacking of Ayn Rand's ideas? Ayn Rand has become more and more popular over the last decade, and her ideas have begun to spread into academia. There is more literature being written about Objectivism now then ever before. But there is one thing that worries me. There is a great risk that as Ayn Rand becomes "trendy," second handers will try to use her ideas, manipulate them, to gain respect, and to further their nefarious ends. This is exactly what happened to Friedrich Nietzsche – when his ideas became popular, his philosophy was hijacked by anarchists, nazis, and postmodernists, completely destroying his reputation for a century. How do we prevent this from happening to Ayn Rand?

The live broadcast begins at 8 am PT / 9 MT / 10 CT / 11 ET on Sunday, 21 September 2014. The podcast will be posted later that day. For more details, check out the episode page.

Recent Podcasts

The podcasts of last week's radio shows are now available. Check out the full collection of past radio shows in the podcast archives, sorted by date or by topic. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast RSS feed too.

11 September 2014: Q&A on Rescuing Pets, Large Egos, and More

I answered these questions on Thursday's Philosophy in Action Radio:

Should a person be prosecuted for property damage when committed in order to rescue the property owner's pet from harm or death? Can an egoist have too big an ego?

You can listen to or download the podcast below, and visit the episode's page for more, including audio files for individual questions.

• Duration: 1:02:35
• Download: Enhanced M4A File (22.5 MB) or Standard MP3 File (21.5 MB)
• Tags: Altruism, Animals, Benevolent, Egoism, Ethics, Honesty, Law, Mindsets, Property Rights, Psychology, Rights, Torts

Recent Blog Posts

Here are last week's posts to Philosophy in Action's blog NoodleFood, ordered from oldest to newest. Don't miss a post: subscribe to NoodleFood's RSS Feed.

• September 14: Activism Recap
• September 16: Interview of a Guinea Pig
• September 17: Preview: Sunday Radio: Blaming Crime Victims, Concealed Carry Permits, Hijacking Ideas, More
• September 19: The Profit Motive: Not Always Good

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