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George Smith discusses Kant’s attempt to justify objective moral principles and his views on when the use of coercion is morally proper.

Originally published in essay form on April 15, 2016

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George Smith explains some fundamental features of Immanuel Kant’s moral and political theory.

Originally published in essay form on April 8, 2016

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George Smith discusses some good and bad influences that Ayn Rand’s ideas had on his own intellectual development.

Originally published in essay form on April 1, 2016

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George Smith examines some of Rand’s claims about the beneficial influence of Aristotle’s ideas on the course of Western civilization.

Originally published in essay form on March 4, 2016

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George Smith discusses the issue of whether we should hold a philosopher responsible for the beliefs of those followers who agree with him.

Originally published in essay form on February 26, 2016.

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George Smith explains the views of Kant and Hegel on the history of philosophy, and explores whether moral judgments should be applied to the realm of ideas.

Originally published in essay form on February 19, 2016

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Was Kant somehow responsible for the rise of Nazism? Smith explores two points of view on this issue.

Originally published in essay form on February 5, 2016

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George H. Smith discusses the mythological thinking that dominated Nazi ideology, as explained in Cassirer’s book The Myth of the State.

Originally published in essay form on January 29, 2016.

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George Smith discusses whether we should hold a philosopher responsible for how other philosophers use his or her ideas.

Originally published in essay form on February 12, 2016

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George H. Smith explores Rand’s contention that America was sliding down a slippery slope to fascism.

Originally published in essay form on January 8, 2016.

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Smith examines and criticizes Richard Ashcraft’s arguments that Locke was significantly influenced by the Levellers.

Originally published in essay form on December 18, 2015.

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George H. Smith explains an important controversy about when the Two Treatises was written, and the possible influence of the Levellers on Locke.

Originally published in essay form on December 4, 2015.

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George H. Smith explains the significance, for Locke, of the increased productivity caused by labor, and the relationship between money and property.

Originally published in essay form on November 20, 2015.

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George H. Smith explains how Locke dealt with some problems in the traditional Christian theory of private property.

Originally published in essay form on November 6, 2015.

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George H. Smith discusses Robert Nozick’s criticisms of Locke’s property theory and the relationship between a natural-law justification of property and social conventions.

Originally published in essay form on October 30, 2015.

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George H. Smith explains Locke’s ideas about how we should interpret a philosophic text, and the relationship between labor and private property.

Originally published in essay form on October 23, 2015.

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In his first essay in a new series on John Locke, Smith explains some essential features of Locke’s case for private property.

Originally published in essay form on October 19, 2015

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George Smith discusses Locke’s view of the original commons, before the institution of private property.

Originally published in essay form on October 9, 2015.

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George Smith continues his discussion of how the theory of private property changed over the centuries.

Originally published in essay form on October 2, 2015.

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