Podcast appearances and mentions of George H Smith

“Weak and strong atheism Some writers distinguish between weak and strong atheism. “Weak atheism,” sometimes called “soft atheism,” “negative atheism” or “neutral atheism,” is the absence of belief in the existence of deities without the positive assertion that deities do not exist. In this sense, weak atheism may be considered a form of agnosticism. These atheists may have no opinion regarding the existence of deities, either because of a lack of interest in the matter (a viewpoint referred to as apatheism), or a belief that the arguments and evidence provided by both theists and strong atheists are equally unpersuasive. Specifically, they argue that theism and strong atheism are equally untenable, on the grounds that asserting or denying the existence of deities requires a faith-claim. On the other hand, “strong atheism,” also known as “hard atheism” or “positive atheism,” is the positive assertion that no deities exist. Many strong atheists have the additional view that positive statements of nonexistence are merited when evidence or arguments indicate that a deity's nonexistence is certain or probable. Strong atheism may be based on arguments that the concept of a deity is self-contradictory and therefore impossible (positive ignosticism), or that one or more attributes of a deity are incompatible with worldly realities. Implicit and explicit atheism The terms implicit and explicit atheism were coined by George H. Smith in 1979 for purposes of understanding atheism more narrowly. Implicit atheism is defined by Smith as the lack of theistic belief without conscious rejection of it. Explicit atheism, meanwhile, is defined by a conscious rejection of theistic belief and is sometimes called "antitheism." As it happens, Smith's definition of explicit atheism is also the most common among laypeople. For laypersons, atheism is defined in the strongest possible terms, as the belief that there is no god. Thus, most laypeople would not recognize mere absence of belief in deities (implicit atheism) as a type of atheism at all, and would tend to use other terms, such as skepticism or agnosticism. Such usage is not exclusive to laypeople, however, as many atheist philosophers, including Theodore Drange, use the narrow definition.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/support

All history is a string of sense perceptions linked together by individual minds in meaningful patterns we call moments, minutes, hours, days, months, years, wars, eras, periods, ages, and so on. History is sensation, and all sensation is done by the fundamental units of the human species; the individual. In this episode, we explore the Civil War through sensor history in order to fully understand what it was actually like on the battlefield and at home from the perspective of all 5 senses.What is sensory history? Is sensory history important to understand the depth of the human experience? Should history be hyper individualized? How can sensory history help us learn more about what we believe we already know? Can sound be revolutionary?Further Reading:The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege: A Sensory History of the Civil War, written by Mark SmithLooking Back: The explosion of sensory history, written by Mark SmithRelated Content:[The Confederacy and Liberty](https://www.libertarianism.org/blog/confederacy-liberty](https://www.libertarianism.org/blog/confederacy-liberty), written by Jason KuznickiWhy “Libertarian” Defenses of the Confederacy and “States’ Rights” are Incoherent, written by Jonathan BlanksConflicts Among Peace Advocates During the Civil War, written by George H. Smith See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Phil Magness joins us this week to teach the radical nature of Lysander Spooner. Spooner’s legal career started in an apprenticeship under 2 lawyers and he was best known for his support for the Abolitionist movement. His philosophy of liberty heavily influenced his law practice as well as his activist lifestyle.Who was Lysander Spooner? Is there a connection between his post office activism and his abolition activism? What radical politics did Spooner practice? What is the secret six? How does natural law relate to slavery?Further Reading:Two Treatises on Competitive Currency and Banking, written by Lysander SpoonerJohn Brown and the Secret Six, Massachusetts Historical SocietyRelated Content:Cannibals All!, with Phil Magness, Liberty Chronicles PodcastAn Essay on the Trial by Jury: Juries vs. Representative Democracy, written by Lysander SpoonerLysander Spooner on Natural Law, written by George H. Smith See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

THE ETHICS OF VOTING – PART III by George H. Smith

THE ETHICS OF VOTING – PART II by George H. Smith

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

THE ETHICS OF VOTING – PART I by George H. Smith

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Does the modern libertarian movement have any significant similarities to the early Christian movement? George H. Smith explores this intriguing possibility.Originally published in essay form on September 18, 2015. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VOLUNTARYIST CRITICS OF STATE EDUCATION By George H. Smith

George H. Smith discusses the traditional Christian theory of private property and how it was viewed as the result of original sin.Originally published in essay form on September 11, 2015. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

VOLUNTARYIST CRITICS OF STATE EDUCATION By George H. Smith

Was Jean Meslier a communist? George H. Smith explores this tricky issue.Originally published in essay form on September 4, 2015. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

George H. Smith explains the role of the Catholic Church in the French government, and how Jean Meslier reconciled his atheism with his role as a priest.Originally published in essay form on August 7, 2015. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

George H. Smith explains some tactics that early freethinkers used in the attempt to avoid punishment for blasphemy and other religious crimes.Originally published in essay form on March 13, 2015. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

George H. Smith explores Shaftesbury’s defense of ridicule and satire in matters of religion.Originally published in essay form on March 6, 2015. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I had no idea how far back the history of asset forfeiture goes. Find out all about it in this episode. Also, What's in the News with stories on private disaster relief efforts, cops getting off with murder, Motel 6 is a bootlicker, kindergartner suspended for imagination, and Maine nullifying federal food laws. I also discuss a new contest I'm running that you can win, and a new podcast project I've released for Pax Libertas Productions that you don't want to miss. This episode is brought to you by Tom Woods's Liberty Classroom, helping you to become a smarter and more informed libertarian than ever before, for just 24 cents a day. WHAT'S RUSTLING MY JIMMIES One thing I talk a lot about on this show is government theft. Taxation is theft, but so is forfeiture, both civil and criminal. I didn't realize how far back the history of asset forfeiture went until I found an article in the book I Must Speak Out: The Best of The Voluntaryist that was selected and edited by Carl Watner. There is a link to the free ebook version of this book in the show notes to this episode at thelavaflow.com/71. I found this book while doing research for my latest podcast project called Essential Libertarianism, which I'll be talking about a bit later in this episode. The article in the book is titled "'Sweat Them at Law with Their Own Money': Forfeitures and Taxes in American History" and it goes into detail on the history of this evil perpetrated by our government.  WHAT'S IN THE NEWS In private disaster relief news, there have been numerous accounts of private groups working to help with the disasters created by the various hurricanes we've seen recently, from the Cajun Navy to the Liberty Coalition for Disaster Relief, a group of anarchists working to crowdfund disaster relief and volunteer coordination. Check out their Facebook group. They are a great organization showing "Without government, who would help people in need?" The link is in the show notes to this episode. On this topic, several cruise companies sent ships to the Caribbean following some of these hurricanes, lending their massive ships to the relief effort, transporting provisions and picking up stranded tourists.  Interestingly enough, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, uses a private company as a benchmark for how things are on the ground during a disaster.  It's called the Waffle House Index and it's a three-color rating that uses green to denote that the local Waffle House restaurant is fully open, yellow for if it's just serving a limited menu (suggesting that it can't get the supplies it needs), and red for closed (a very rare occurrence for the 24-hour chain). In screw the government news, mere hours after Hurricane Irma, Miami-Dade County was ticketing residents for building code violations on their wrecked properties. In we investigated ourselves news, the US Department of Justice has decided they will not charge six Baltimore police officers in the death of Freddie Gray. The Department of Justice has been investigating the case since 2015, when Gray, a 25-year-old, black Baltimore resident, died of injuries he sustained while in police custody. In boot licking companies news, two Motel 6 locations in Phoenix, Arizona are routinely sending in leads to immigration agents when they suspect guests of being undocumented. While an investigation by the Phoenix New Times was unable to get confirmation from Motel 6 headquarters, employees at the motels in question said that collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is standard practice: "We send a report every morning to ICE—all the names of everybody that comes in," a front-desk clerk told the New Times. But this isn't anything new for Motel 6. In 2015, the ACLU released a statement of other nationwide collaboration with police and the government. In government indoctrination centers news, a 5-year-old imaginative boy's parents are speaking out after they say their son was suspended from school for telling a teacher that he had a bomb in his backpack. In nullification news, Maine Governor Paul LePage signed a Food Sovereignty Bill into law, guaranteeing the rights of Maine towns to regulate food production locally, rather than submitting to federal regulation. Don't miss signing up for the new October The LAVA Flow contest by signing up at http://thelavaflow.com/email. PAX LIBERTAS PRODUCTIONS TRAILER I have a new podcast project that just released over the weekend and I think you will want to check it out. It's called Essential Libertarianism and you can get it wherever you get your podcasts including iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and many others. Check it out at EssentialLibertarianism.com. Essential Libertarianism IS voluntaryism, and that is the basis for this show. A few months ago I picked up an old book from the early 80's called Neither Bullets Nor Ballots: Essays on Voluntaryism by Carl Watner, George H. Smith, and Wendy McElroy. After reading this book, I had a much better understanding of voluntaryism as a whole and it renewed my commitment to this philosophy. I began digging down the rabbit hole of content at Voluntaryist.com, the website for Carl Watner and The Voluntaryist newsletter which has been publishing continually since 1982, which led me to reach out to him about this project. He agreed to let me do it and he is excited about it as well!  

Neither Bullets Nor Ballots - Article 1 - Party Dialog - EL0002 Author: George H. Smith Original article location: http://voluntaryist.com/non-voting/party-dialogue-george-h-smith CREDITS "LPer" - Jessica Paxton "Anti-LPer" - Rodger Paxton

George H. Smith begins his series on the historical relationship between religious skepticism and libertarianism.Originally published in essay form on January 30, 2015.Narrated by Daniel Hyland. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

George H. Smith discusses what Bernard Mandeville meant in saying that private vices produce public benefits, and how Francis Hutcheson criticized that theory.Originally published in essay form on January 23, 2015.Narrated by Daniel Hyland. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For almost a century after the U.S. Constitution went into effect, few Americans seem to have questioned the legitimacy of the Revolution. Since the Progressive generation of historians began the work of serious criticism and revision, however, students of American life have largely learned to live with a more complicated understanding of the revolutionary legacy. In The American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence, George H. Smith’s treatment of the era charts space for libertarians to both criticize and revere the American heritage.The essays in this book originally appeared as columns on Libertarianism.org. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

George H. Smith discusses Bernard Mandeville’s defense of legal prostitution and other vices.Originally published in essay form on January 16, 2015.Narrated by Daniel Hyland. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

George H. Smith explains why Mandeville’s ideas about vice made him one of the most notorious writers of his time.Originally published in essay form on January 9, 2015. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Methodological individualism is the principle that only individuals act—only individuals consciously apply means toward the fulfilment of ends. whenever we investigate society we must do so through the experiences and actions of the individuals which compose it.Further Readings/References:Mises, Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund. 2005.George H. Smith & Marilyn Moore, eds. Individualism: A Reader. Washington, D.C.: The Cato Institute. 2015. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this episode of Liberty Under Attack, I am once again joined by our creative consultant, Kyle Rearden. The foundation of this episode is George H. Smith’s article titled Can Abolitionists Vote or Take Office Under the United States Constitution? It is part of an ongoing series, wherein Smith discusses the abolitionist movement and their […] The post Social Contract Theory & More Arguments Against Political Action (LUA Podcast #24, 3/5/17) appeared first on Liberty Under Attack.

This week we celebrate the Fourth of July, as well as the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion rights. We announce FFRF billboard activism in Mississipi, Minnesota, and Cleveland, Ohio, where we welcome visitors to the RNC this month with the face of Ronald Reagan advocating for state/church separation. We report legal victories in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and California. After hearing the music (!) of actor and atheist Kevin Bacon, we talk with author George H. Smith, whose classic 1974 book, Atheism: The Case Against God, has been reprinted with a Foreword by Lawrence Krauss.

This is a sample of the Excursions podcast from Libertarianism.org. In this episode, George H. Smith discusses the marginal utility revolution in economic thought. This revolution provided the foundation for Ludwig von Mises's argument that rational economic calculation is impossible in a socialist economy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Robert Nozick, in his essay “Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?” proposed that many highly-educated public intellectuals tend to lean towards collectivism and authoritarianism because they expect society to work best in the way that schools and the academic system (which is the system they are most familiar with) operates. Was Nozick’s theory right? Why do academics, philosophers, journalists, sociologists, and other “wordsmith intellectuals” tend to skew left?Show Notes and Further ReadingRobert Nozick’s influential short essay “Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?”Friedrich Hayek’s essay along similar lines, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”.George H. Smith also wrote about Hayek’s views on intellectuals in this column: “Intellectuals and Libertarianism: F. A. Hayek”. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We are joined by George H. Smith. He is the author of the 1974 book "Atheism: The Case Against God". A wonderfully written book that is still relevant today.Also discussed - The Greek financial crisis. Investing skeptically topic, "Do I have enough to retire early?"Get the book here...http://www.amazon.com/Atheism-Case-Against-Skeptics-Bookshelf-ebook/dp/B004LB4CAS/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

This week George H. Smith joins us to talk about Individualism: A Reader, the first in a series of readers published by Libertarianism.org and the Cato Institute. In it, Smith and his co-editor Marilyn Moore have compiled 26 selections from 25 writers on the topic of individualism.How has the idea of individualism evolved over time? What are some common misconceptions about individualism? Is a commitment to individualism somehow antithetical to the idea of community? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.