tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-351435132026-04-28T16:34:00.195-07:00Jerry Kirkpatrick's BlogJerry Kirkpatrick's BlogJerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comBlogger230125https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2026/03/systemic-white-guilt-and-its-groveling.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-76000681490185337952026-03-26T11:28:00.000-07:002026-03-26T11:28:38.801-07:00Systemic White Guilt and Its Groveling, Gutless Conformity
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Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comThe documentary White Guilt by filmmaker Eli Steele and his father professor Shelby Steele is premiering this week at Arizona State University. Below is a repost, from July 13, 2020, of my discussion of Dr. Steele’s book of the same title. I urge everyone to see the film when it becomes available in your area (and to read the book). Trailer can be seen at whiteguiltfilm.com, and you can subscribe
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2026/02/triumphs-of-american-sense-of-life.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-32743965076383702372026-02-28T10:46:00.000-08:002026-03-26T11:26:23.042-07:00Triumphs of the American Sense of Life
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Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comBelow is a repost from November 13, 2018. In the first line of paragraph four, I link to two earlier posts that make good companions to the present one. The first is from February 8, 2017, posted shortly after the 2016 election, “Condescension, Intelligence Defense Values—and the Deplorables—And Oh Yes, The Putsch Mentality.” The second is from January 12, 2018, “More on Condescension toward the
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2026/01/thinking-in-definitions.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-83073719057202349702026-01-13T09:41:00.000-08:002026-01-13T09:41:47.850-08:00Thinking in Definitions
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Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comFrom the time I first read Ayn Rand’s theory of concepts, almost sixty years ago, I have thought of myself as someone who thinks in definitions. Why? All our knowledge, with the exception of proper nouns, consists of concepts. Combinations of concepts that make important connections to each other are called principles. When concepts and principles are well crafted, they become extremely
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/11/unrestricted-violence-and-oppression.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-89858686943816251972025-11-13T14:51:00.000-08:002025-11-13T14:58:01.108-08:00Unrestricted Violence and Oppression
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Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comBelow is a repost from April 14, 2017. The title is new, replacing the lengthy original: “Brains or Blood? Take Your Pick—The Choice Is Not New but the Threat Is Worse.” The post is about 1960s violence and oppression on university campuses that made blood, rather than brains, the preferred method of settling disputes. The first quotation from Ludwig von Mises about Vladimir Lenin states the
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-fascist-left.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-23631026807590209592025-10-10T09:58:00.000-07:002025-10-10T10:08:11.689-07:00The Fascist Left
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Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comBelow is a repost from October 8, 2017, that discusses the origin and meaning of fascism as a form of socialism, which means it belongs on the left side of the left-right political and economic continuum. Following this repost, I have added a postscript on racism. For a detailed presentation of why the German form of fascism, Nazism, was totalitarian socialism, see George Reisman’s essay, “Why
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/09/hatred-leftist-emotion.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-81392285279145707682025-09-16T15:07:00.000-07:002025-09-16T15:12:27.700-07:00Hatred, the Leftist Emotion? ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comBelow is a repost from May 15, 2018, lightly edited. Two months later I posted “Is the Next Step for the Left to Liquidate Its Enemies?” July 11, 2018, in which I ask three times, “Are We There Yet?” A year earlier, October 8, 2017, I posted “The Fascist Left,” explaining the left-right continuum and arguing that fascism belongs on the left, as it is a form of socialism, “socialism of the German
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/08/delusion-or-lie-which-is-it.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-62548875966001552992025-08-31T06:13:00.000-07:002025-08-31T06:15:03.827-07:00 Delusion or Lie? Which Is It?
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Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comTwo prominent and accomplished conservative-leaning news analysts with decades of experience disagree in their assessments of today’s mainstream media. Bernard Goldberg says they are delusional, while Bill O’Reilly says they are lying. Take your pick of the issues. The media, whether print “reporter” or cable news talking head, frequently say things that are not true about our current
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/07/on-nature-of-human-nature.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-29626885527940629542025-07-22T11:35:00.000-07:002025-07-22T11:37:23.441-07:00On the Nature of Human Nature
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Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comTheories of human nature underly theories of political and economic systems. Some people attempt to justify capitalism with the Calvinist theory that says, because of Original Sin, the inherent tendency to evil, we should do our duty by working hard to absolve those sins and ensure acceptance into Heaven. This is the gist of the Protestant Ethic. Others attack capitalism by saying
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/06/masculinity-and-femininity-differences.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-55449474193761318052025-06-28T10:24:00.000-07:002025-06-28T10:24:47.690-07:00Masculinity and Femininity: The Differences Are Not Arbitrary “Social Constructs”
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Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comFollowing is a repost from August 8, 2018. The issue today needs to be restated. Masculinity
and femininity are emotional styles that express our sexual
self-confidence as a male or female person in relation to the opposite
sex.*They are psychological achievements that derive from our
different anatomies and physiologies. Deficiencies in masculinity and
femininity, that is, diminished
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/05/democracy-democracy-were-all-for.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-79968754759052296792025-05-13T10:23:00.000-07:002025-05-13T10:23:05.727-07:00 Democracy. Democracy. We’re All for Democracy!
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Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comCommunists, socialists, and fascists, as well as the usual American political suspects, Democrats and Republicans, have all advocated, and today still advocate, democracy. The notion of a “soviet,” let me point out, was a locally elected communist council or committee, common in the USSR. Similar “elections” occurred in Maoist China. In World War II, the German people were “advised” to vote
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/04/freedom-of-speech-presupposes-private.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-20313387034982606222025-04-18T10:24:00.000-07:002025-09-04T09:07:45.956-07:00 Freedom of Speech Presupposes Private Property Rights ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comThe right to free speech does not mean you can say or write anything anytime, anywhere. Private property rights have primacy over speech rights. This means you may not say anything in my house if I dislike it. I may ask you to leave and if you don’t, I can have you arrested for trespass. If you make a vocal fuss, say, on my front lawn, I can press the additional charge of disturbing the
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/03/positivism.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-69946888313520641902025-03-19T09:48:00.000-07:002025-03-19T09:48:34.162-07:00Positivism ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comThe philosophy of positivism—also called logical positivism and logical empiricism—has for decades been the bane of science, especially the human sciences. The concept “positivism” that I am using is broader than the logical positivism of the Vienna Circle in the1920s–1930s, which attempted, but failed, to find Immanuel Kant’s noumenal world through symbolic logic applied to sense data.
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/02/on-nature-of-evil.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-80984085462991468852025-02-15T11:24:00.000-08:002025-02-15T11:24:48.486-08:00On the Nature of Evil ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.com“Evil” is a strong word. The Oxford English Dictionary says it derives from Old English and, when applied to a person, is “the most comprehensive adjectival expression of disapproval, dislike, or disparagement.” It means the person is “bad, wicked, vicious” and causes harm. The concept is on the extreme end of the continuum of immorality. Ayn Rand says that evil people are a small
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2025/01/on-writing.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-18984501892062994952025-01-17T10:05:00.000-08:002025-01-17T10:53:10.091-08:00 On Writing ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comWriting is not automatic, and no one is born with the talent. When I was a sophomore in a public high school, I was a student in an honors English class and earned gentlemanly A’s and B’s. For the next two years, I attended a private school. In the first semester of my junior year, Miss K gave me a D- for not being able to write a coherent sentence. I was shocked and humiliated. Miss K
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-meaning-of-logic.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-64167137449428332742024-12-17T11:19:00.000-08:002025-02-17T14:51:11.168-08:00The Meaning of Logic ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comAristotelian logic has been variously defined as the science and art of correct reasoning, of making correct inferences, or of correct thinking. Ayn Rand makes the concept “correct” precise and fundamental by defining logic as “the art of non-contradictory identification” (p. 36). By “art” she means practice, or the practical application of concepts and principles to achieve a specific goal
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/11/on-path-to-dictatorship-why-former.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-78244890448116230232024-11-01T06:03:00.002-07:002024-11-01T06:03:32.503-07:00 On the Path to Dictatorship: Why [Former President Trump] Must be [Elected] ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comThis repost is from November 4, 2019, one year before the 2020 election, and last repost in my series of three for the current election season. The previous reposts were October 1 and September 5. The present repost has been edited to update it, changing such wording as “current president” to “former President Trump,” or some abbreviated version, and “reelect” to “elect.” In the spirit of sparing
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-danger-of-emergency-powers-history.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-33832349439273753932024-10-01T08:25:00.000-07:002024-10-01T08:25:27.504-07:00 The Danger of Emergency Powers: A History Lesson ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comBelow is the second of three reposts in this election season on politics. (The third repost will be on November 1.) The present essay was posted on October 7, 2020, six months after the beginning of what I subsequently labelled covid totalitarianism. I used the terms in seven essays posted in 2021 and ’22. Emergency powers, as we have learned in the past six months, are dangerous. Any
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/09/what-americans-need-to-learn-about-left.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-18206624343495250632024-09-05T09:39:00.000-07:002024-09-05T09:42:37.539-07:00 What Americans Need to Learn about the Left ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comBelow is a repost from July 18, 2022, that is important for our upcoming election. Most of my previous posts from 2017–22 have political themes and many are linked in the article below. I plan to repost another political essay in October and, again, on November 1. Note that links to my book Applying Principles are to a free, downloadable pdf. A retired English professor from Emory
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/08/space-time-and-causality.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-83717640035526307502024-08-09T09:12:00.000-07:002024-08-09T09:15:18.156-07:00Space, Time, and Causality ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comAyn Rand’s theory of concepts answers many so-called problems in philosophy. One of these is Kant’s claim that such concepts as space, time, and causality are innate (“a priori”), independent of sense perception and therefore of reality. Whatever we are aware of are phenomena, appearances in our minds, not the noumena of true reality. The positivists took this a step further and declared all
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/07/defensive-habits-as-obstacles-to.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-33389289747781630272024-07-04T11:50:00.000-07:002024-07-10T14:14:19.153-07:00 Defensive Habits as Obstacles to Exercising Our Free Will ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comAyn Rand divides human volition into two stages: focus and thought. To focus means to direct and control our attention to something in particular, a landscape or a problem to be solved, or to let our minds wander. This, she has compared to throwing a switch (Peikoff, 58). The second stage is the focus of our thinking to acquire knowledge without contradiction and to keep our subconscious
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-place-of-emotions-in-science.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-66551861735753040012024-06-05T09:46:00.000-07:002024-06-05T09:47:01.424-07:00 The Place of Emotions in Science ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comThoughts underly our emotions. As psychologist Edith Packer (140) says, paraphrased, “When we are feeling something, we are thinking something.” The opposite also is true—when we are thinking something, we are feeling something, which means we have emotions running through our minds whether we are aware of them or not. Consciousness, to borrow a word from William James, is a stream,
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/05/on-feeling-of-standing-foot-off-ground.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-58508626950954303922024-05-09T10:34:00.000-07:002024-05-10T10:01:04.714-07:00 On the Feeling of Standing a Foot off the Ground ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comIn a 2009 post (Applying Principles, 363–65) titled “Life in Three-Quarter Time,” I wrote that the three-quarter time signature in music, especially as exhibited in the Viennese waltz, represents to me the “expression and symbol of effortless joy.” In a variation on this theme, beyond the three-quarter time signature but still in music, I would like to talk about another feeling or emotion I
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-metaphysical-versus-epistemological.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-10754707006826330042024-04-15T10:43:00.000-07:002024-04-15T10:43:20.944-07:00 The Metaphysical versus the Epistemological as Applied to Consciousness ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comIn Ayn Rand’s theory of concepts (chap. 1, 2), influenced by Aristotle’s fundamental premise of the primacy of existence, Rand makes an important distinction between the metaphysical and the epistemological. Metaphysics, in contrast to the special sciences, studies all of existence—reality, the universe as a whole. This includes consciousness, which is a natural, not supernatural, part of
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-concept-of-getting-at.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-70574148595611797872024-03-15T09:45:00.000-07:002024-03-15T09:45:24.952-07:00 The Concept of “Getting At” ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comWhen my wife, philosopher Linda Reardan, and I read a new writer whose ideas do not quite fit our established notions, we ask ourselves “what is this person getting at?” The ideas are not ridiculous, to be dismissed out of hand, nor do they strike us as correct identifications of the facts of reality. “Getting at” means these writers are attempting, in their own way and depending on their
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https://jerrykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-applied-science-of-psychoanalytic.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35143513.post-82646725774421946142024-02-05T09:29:00.000-08:002024-02-05T09:33:09.561-08:00 The Applied Science of Psychoanalytic Therapy ]]>
Jerry Kirkpatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15361738222191730052noreply@blogger.comIn my previous post, I discussed essential concepts of Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, that is, his basic science. This month I want to present the practice or applied science of psychoanalytic therapy. Engineers presuppose fundamental concepts of physics and chemistry, along with additional concepts unique to their specialty. Subsequently they apply all of this knowledge to
