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Beyond rational self-preservation

Beyond rational self-preservation . Enlightenment thinkers such Thomas Hobbes and John Locke tried to appeal to and foster what is called man's rational self-preservation, inserting it above all other goals as the centrepiece and pivot of the whole of society. Notice here the two concepts, reason, on the one hand, and self-preservation, on the other, are heavily intertwined, which still remains the case today. Madness, on the other hand, is commonly associated with throwing caution to the wind, tightrope walking over a precipice just for the sheer Hell of it, and embracing a variety of dangers that may very well end in personal extinction. However, when one considers the nature of our own inevitable mortality, is making self-preservation our highest goal really so rational? In order to face life in all its grim reality, is it not necessary, at some point or other, to eschew 'rational' self-preservation for a bold leap, (if only in the imagination, if not outward practice), ...

Stefan Molyneux's 'Universally Preferable Behavior': A Critique

Stefan Molyneux's 'Universally Preferable Behaviour': A Critique 'Universally preferable behaviour', or UPB, is the moral theory of the prominent contemporary philosopher Stefan Molyneux . The book which explains it is available for free here on Mr. Molyneux's website:  Freedomain Radio – Free Books   https://freedomainradio.com/free/  It sets out to provide an objective, rational foundation for many of our common moral valuations, as well as clarifying them and providing guidance regarding more controversial moral and political issues. In this essay, I attempt to evaluate some of its chief arguments. I shall pass over the introduction, which is mainly about explaining the need for such a foundational moral theory based upon objective reality, which is all quite sound and I do not disagree with, and head straight for the core of the 'proof' for the new theory herein revealed. Stefan's first argument for UPB is that 'if there is no such ...

'Madness: a form of love' by Max J. Lewy

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https://www.amazon.com/Madness-Mr-Max-J-Lewy/dp/1986974324/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526725964&sr=8-1&keywords=max+j.+lewy

Golden Boy

Hewn on Manchester's hallowed fields, In the wake of those woebegotten Busby Babes. Before their illustrious tradition he kneeled, Like a dolphin playing sagely o'er their ocean graves. Shooting out from the demos, Like some blazing starre - He left the keepers at a loss, Nestling his freekicks just beneath the bar. Announcing himself, in the rush of youth, Letting waste no time. He looked up, struck it with Truth, And scored from the half-way line. Everything he did with an air of ease, While the crowds' eyes hung on his pixel-perfect passes. His manager and mentor, Alex Ferguson, he did please, As the opposition defence was split assunder on crisply-cut grasses. Inevitably, the accolades and endorsements rang in; Bringing great riches to this fair and fresh-faced fellow, And yet he seemed immune to the decadence and sin, Holding his head high, donating to the unlucky below. The girls all swooned at his handsome visage, And, so, like most men he had to splice! A girl nam...

Write To Survive

A poet has the luxury to sit back and be himself. A poet cares little whether he makes it to the shop shelf. A poet is wise beyond compare. A poet sees something fair everywhere. I am not wise, I see nothing fair; But if I don't prove I'm alright 'up there', I'll be treated like shit. I'll lose what mind I still have, what wit. In my words, I set no stall. How could I heed the Muses' Call? Ever since that little medication board, I resent beauty as something I cannot afford. I am something more raw, more pure. I am something more core, more poor. Adrenaline pumping through my veins, Brings the most acute quatrains. Do I write from the heart? So what if my rhymes only fart? I don't write some vain pleasure to derive... I merely write to survive!

Community Nurse

She is a bit eccentric, and a nice-natured lady, Dreaming of space or time ships, And goblins with seventyeight different toes. But, when all is finally done and snipped, The party line she tows. At predetermined intervals she visits me, like a woman's monthly woes. Making sure that the child inside of me, often bleeds and never grows. "You've had your chance, to burst buds in freedom", so her teacher says. "This is for your own prudent protection, for the rest of all your days." It seems to her a wise precaution, to nip the peaks and tuck the lows. Because its at an expert's inspection, somebody who much better knows - Officious guardians of convention, who society's primitive fear allays. It is for us a most difficult sentence, because ours are not their ways. Each time she arrives, how I try and I scheme to prove myself pristinely sane. Yet all she probably sees is that chequered history, the hideous, unrelenting stain. Her luke...

What My Madness Brings

Confession is not in my disposition, Humility isn't for me. I have too much accusation, To stoop to mutual sympathy- To offer up in supplication, My rightful property, Or stand before adjudication, Bowing my head as if I were guilty. Even if I too have failed in perfection... It is probably due to thee. Moreover, it is for the criminals to come forth, Not for me to bring them to justice. After all they've done to murder my mirth, I deserve a medal for my mere lingering existence. So I don't come before you humbly... All stuttering, all mumbly. And though I might like to play the minstrel knight, I am not one who is made for easy delight. Though I may often seem only to want to punish grumpily, In reality, by beating this proverbial shield of tin, I beseech you to alter course that we may yet win. Hear me now! I am not casting a stone, Let alone the first. 'tis no violence to merely intone: I just searchingly bemoan. (In a forum less lik...