About
Content
Store
Forum

Rebirth of Reason
War
People
Archives
Objectivism




Stephen Boydstun

boydstun@rcn.com
Send me a RoR MailAtlas Count 1825Atlas Count 1825Atlas Count 1825Atlas Count 18251825 Atlas Points

Author Info

View all articles by Stephen Boydstun

Number of Posts: 525
View all posts by this user: here

Num Gallery items: 33
View all Galleries by this user: here

Description

Premium Articles

"Vegetative Robots and Value"
"The 'With-Measurement' Program"

"Rights, Games, and Self-Realization"

  Intro, Part I, Part II, Part III


Premium Posts
Foundations of Ethics #15, #17, #20

Implied Axioms #207, #230
Who Needs Philosophy #14
Locke and Essence #3
Evolution of the Objective #39
Objectivism and the Correspondence Theory #0
Mind and Representation #4, #6
Concepts #1, #11
Concept Formation #0
Corruption of Measurement #11
Physics and Philosophy #54
Scope of Volition #31, #38
Objectivism and Existentialism #7, #11
Self-Interest #13
Objectivist and Libertarian Politics #36
Definition of Objectivism #12, #24
Whether Objectivist #17

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My current intellectual project consists of various integrations of Objectivist theoretical philosophy with science and mathematics. My most recent accomplishment in that vein is the essay "Universals and Measurement" in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (Spring 2004).

In that essay, I argue that Rand's measurement-omission analysis of concepts implies a distinctive magnitude structure for metaphysics. This is structure beyond logical structure, constraint on possibility beyond logical constraint. Yet, it is structure ranging as widely as logical structure through all the sciences and common experience. I uncover this distinctive magnitude structure, characterizing it by its automorphisms, by its location among the mathematical categories, and by the types of measurement it affords. I uncover a structure to universals implicit in Rand's theory that is additional to recurrence structure.

My academic backgrounds are in physics, philosophy, and engineering. My engineering work was building locomotives, then I switched to nuclear power electrical generation. Engineering rounded out the understanding of the physical world I had from physics. Now all those backgrounds, and long study of philosophy, too, are put into my project of extending Ayn Rand's metaphysics.

I created, financed, and edited Objectivity, a hardcopy "journal of metaphysics, epistemology, and theory of value informed by modern science" (1990-98). All issues of Objectivity are now freely available online for readers and researchers.


Visit www.objectivity-archive.com

On the romantic side, my partner's name is Walter. We have been together thirteen years. He has two sons and one grandson, now age eight. It is wonderful to have a family.












Favorite Gallery items:


Article:

Wednesday
April 29, 2009
War for Men's Minds
Intelligence, Animality, and Machinery
by Stephen Boydstun
Sanctions: 9Sanctions: 9 Sanction this ArticleEditMark as your favorite article

In the first section, I articulate what definitely does not possess intelligence. In the second,

what definitely does possess intelligence and what intelligence, if any, might be reasonably ascribed to animals and machines. (This paper was written in 2000.) (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (8 messages)

Recent Gallery Items

(Quotes) “I have been led to the conclusion that as long as a philosopher does not carry out his analysis of measurable objects to the point where the mathematician can find unities, measures, and dimensions he must surely still be hanging on to some confusion, or at least the predicates of his propositions do not apply uniformly to the subjects.” —J.H. Lambert to Kant (Feb. 3, 1766)
(Sightings) Rand in Stanford Encyclopedia
(Quotes) There was no order in his reading; but there was order in what remained of it in his mind.
(Books) After Adam Smith
(Books) Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

RecentPosts

News Discussions - New Li-Ion Battery with 10x Energy Density - 27
   Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 4:14am -- ...Meanwhile, back here in my sleepy Southern town: Edison2
Quotes - “I have been led to the conclusion that as long as a philoso... - 5
   Sunday, August 22, 2010 - 6:23am -- ...I would like to make a correction to my Post 2. While it is true, as I said, ...
Quotes - “I have been led to the conclusion that as long as a philoso... - 2
   Thursday, August 19, 2010 - 9:31am -- ...At the time of that letter from which I quoted, Lambert was a distinguished m...
General Forum - Bill Gross, Mortgages, Government - 3
   Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - 2:26pm -- ...I’m afraid I don’t have the technical knowledge to tell how he would best get...
General Forum - Bill Gross, Mortgages, Government - 1
   Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - 9:27am -- ......William Poole of Cato did an excellent job last evening on The News Hour.....
Objectivism Q&A - Creativity - 7
   Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - 7:14am -- ...Here are some remarks of Rand on Creation and on Artistic Creation. Concernin...
Objectivism Q&A - Creativity - 5
   Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - 4:18am -- ...Branden, in Objectivity, Merlin’s essay “Imagination and Cognition” linked in...
General Forum - Universals - History vs Rand - 42
   Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - 7:56pm -- Ed,......I wanted to mention to you something that I have found a great many phi...
General Forum - Here's Another Reason I'm Getting More and More Disgusted with OL - 34
   Saturday, July 17, 2010 - 12:55pm -- ......Thanks for the information about Wright.......From the cited article:*.......
General Forum - Universals - History vs Rand - 23
   Saturday, July 17, 2010 - 4:11am -- ......On childhood concepts and measurement omission, from my 1990 study:......~...


User ID Password or create a free account.