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A batch of the best highlights from what Stefan's read, .
The authority of government, even such as I am willing to submit to—for I will cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than I, and in many things even those who neither know nor can do so well—is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it. The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual.
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau and Remo
He had been droning along about „value,“ comparing the Marxist theory with the orthodox „use“ theory. Mr. Dubois had said, „Of course, the Marxian definition of value is ridiculous. All the work one cares to add will not turn a mud pie into an apple tart; it remains a mud pie, value zero. By corollary, unskillful work can easily subtract value; an untalented cook can turn wholesome dough and fresh green apples, valuable already, into an inedible mess, value zero. Conversely, a great chef can fashion of those same materials a confection of greater value than a commonplace apple tart, with no more effort than an ordinary cook uses to prepare an ordinary sweet.
Starship Troopers
Robert A. Heinlein
Often our beliefs are post hoc constructions designed to justify what we’ve just done, or to support the groups we belong to.
The Righteous Mind
Jonathan Haidt
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