Category Archives: Uncategorized
Mill’s proviso: the harm principle
N.B.: I dedicate this blog post to our nation’s military veterans. Does the law-liberty dilemma have a solution? One possible approach to the paradox of politics is to replace liberty with some other master criterion, and to this end, we … Continue reading
Music Monday: Jazzy
I will resume my series on the paradox of politics in my next post; in the meantime, enjoy:
J. S. Mill’s effete and elitist rescue operation
How can we preserve individual liberty while at the same time protect public health and safety? In my previous post, we saw a new type of solution to the paradox of politics: replace liberty with utility. On this view, which … Continue reading
Bentham’s dangerous move
Why do I include the English social reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748-1843) in my survey on the “paradox of politics”? Because Bentham’s solution to the law-liberty dilemma is at once novel, original, and extremely dangerous! Before Bentham, the main goal of … Continue reading
Property rights in outer space orbits
I will resume my series on the paradox of politics in the next day or two. Today, however, I will be attending the SpaceU Symposium at my home institution, the University of Central Florida, where I will be presenting my … Continue reading
The paradox of politics: part 2
Last month (October 2025), I wrote up a series of blog posts on “the paradox of politics”: the perennial tension between law and liberty, coercion and consent, authority and autonomy. More specifically, I surveyed four of the greatest Anglo-American minds … Continue reading
*Why Space?*
That is the title of this new book-length defense of space exploration, which I have also added to my ever-expanding Thanksgiving week reading list! (I had the honor of meeting the author, the legendary space activist Rick Tumlinson, at a … Continue reading
*Astrophilosophy*
That is the title of this paper by Namrata Goswami, a professor of space security at the USSF-Johns Hopkins University. I had the pleasure of meeting Professor Goswami at the National Space Society’s 2025 “Space Settlement Summit“, which is meeting … Continue reading
Monday music: Ochi chernye (Dark eyes)
I will begin posting a new series on “the paradox of politics” in the next day or two; in the meantime, enjoy!
*Dia de los Muertos con el Mariachi Monumental de Mexico*
Let’s take a moment to celebrate the memory of our dearly departed loved ones. Or better yet, let’s build them an ofrenda (see here)!

