Online literature by Roger Bissell

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Articles

Art and Music:

Arthur Koestler and Music Theory (1970)

Wagner, Art, and Life (1970)

A Unifying Concept for the "Subjective" and "Objective" Approaches to Understanding the Musical Experience (1970)

Notes on the Baroque Suite (1974)

A Critical Examination of the Notions of Art as "Imitation of Nature" and "Re-Creation of Reality (1974)

Advice to Would-Be Professional Trombonists (1979)

Why Union Scale is Killing Our Work (1984)

On Musical Texture

On "Perfect Pitch"

What's Wrong with Bebop Jazz?

The Essence of Art (Published in Objectivity in 1997.)

Thoughts on Musical Characterization and Plot: the Symbolic and Emotional Power of Dramatic Music (Published in ART Ideas in 1998.)

Kamhi and Torres on Meaning in Rand's Esthetics (Published in Reason Papers in 1998.)

Music and Perceptual Cognition (Published in Journal of Ayn Rand Studies in 1999.)

"...to give us Rand faithfully": a Critical Note on the Boeckmann Transcript (Published in The Daily Objectivist in 2000.)

Rockin' with Rand: Sailing the Turbulent Seas of the Objectivist Aesthetics (Published in Journal of Ayn Rand Studies in 2000.)

Critical Misinterpretations and Missed Opportunities: Errors and Omissions by Torres and Kamhi (Publlshed in Journal of Ayn Rand Studies in 2001.)

A Neglected Source for Rand's Aesthetics (Published in Journal of Ayn Rand Studies in 2002.)

Art as Microcosm: the Real Meaning of the Objectivist Concept of Art (Published in Journal of Ayn Rand Studies in 2004.)

Langer and Camus: Unexpected Post-Kantian Affinities with Rand's Aesthetics (Published in Journal of Ayn Rand Studies in 2005.)

More Standards to Which We Can Repair (2006 essay on The Great American Songbook, followup to review essay in The New Individualist.)

Brief Comments on (Some of) My Favorite 20th Century Composers (Unpublished comments written in 2000.)

Henry Pleasants on the Parallels between Classical and Jazz Music (Review essay published in 1974 in The REB Newsletter.)

Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science:

A Dual-Aspect Approach to the Mind-Body Problem (Divisions: 1. Duality of Mind and Body, 2. The Dual-Aspect Theory, 3. The Non-Reductive Status of the Dual-Aspect Theory, 4. The Causal Inefficacy of Mind, 5. Mind, Self, Will, and "Freedom")

Logic, Dialectics:

To Catch a Thief: an Essay in Epistemological Crime-Busting (Essay on the Liar's Paradox and stolen concept fallacy. (Divisions: 1. Intentionality and Meaning, 2. Propositions and Meaning, 3. Logic, Intentionality, and Self-Exclusion, 4. Conclusion, 5. Postscript Comments, 6. Endnotes with updated comments.)

On the Fine Art of Thawing out Frozen Abstractions: an Essay in Mental Economics (Essay on the fallacy of the frozen abstraction. Phase I: Identifying the Nature of the Genus-Species "Freeze." Phase II: Thawing-Out Selected Frozen Abstractions. Phase III: Mental Economics and the Frozen Abstraction Fallacy.)

Dialectical Objectivism? A Review of Chris Sciabarra's Ayn Rand: the Russian Radical]

Dialectics: Guardian of Logic (The relation between logic and dialectics.)

Radicalism and Respectability in the Real World (Revised version of posts made in September and October of 1996 to Internet discussion – Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy/MDOP – on Chris M. Sciabarra's Ayn Rand: the Russian Radical.)

Mistaken Identity: Long’s Conflation of Dialectics and Organicism (Reply to Roderick Long in Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 3, no. 2 - Spring 2002. PDF file.)

Mathematics:

What's the Deal with X-to-the-Zero-Power? A Brief Note on the Non-Fiction of Zero Exponents (Math discussion on positive exponents, negative exponents and zero exponents.)

Sequel: What's the Deal with Fractional Exponents? (Math discussion on fractional exponents.)

A New Procedure for Deriving Pythagorean Triples (Math discussion of new procedure for the Pythagorean equation that has integral values.)

How the Martians Discovered Algebra (The "real story" behind Einstein, Martians and the discovery of algebra.)

Speed Math

The Speed of Light Demystified]

Confessions of a Would-Be Mathematician

Ethics, Politics, Religion:

Resolving the Government/Anarchism Issue (Discussion of Rand’s concept of government. Originally published in Reason, November 1973.)

More on the Government Controversy (Unpublished letter to the editor of Reason about “Resolving the Government Issue” and unpublished response.)

Crime and Punishment 1974—A Historical Snapshot of Libertarian-Objectivist Theorizing (Four essays from REB Newsletter, my 1974 “Independent Libertarian Newsletter”: 1. “Reflections on the Holland Conference.” 2. “On the Matter of the Punishment of Criminals – An Open Letter to the Libertarian Party Platform Committee.” 3. “None Dare Call It Non-Punishment – The Semantics of Retaliation.” 4. “Another View of Punishment – Lee’s Ethical Egoist Theory of Punishment.”)

Block on Abortion (Published in Libertarian Review in 1978, this essay is a forerunner to my 1981 essay in Reason magazine.)

Why the State Cannot Legitimately Establish What Constitutes a Church (Discussion of the legal requirements for defining and establishing a church.)

Separation of Church and State: a Logical Impossibility? (Discussion of the nature of church, government and taxation.)

Whose Case for Liberty is Correct—and So What? (Discussion of different views of what freedom is in the libertarian movement.)

The Moral Majority Vs. God – A Sermon to the Unitarians (Discussion on persuasion, free will, legislating morality, and libertarian values within a religious context.)

What Is the "New Right"? (Critical analysis of article) – Gene Bryant, “Entanglement by the New Right”)

A Calm Look at Abortion Arguments (Originally published in Reason – September 1981, and republished in Free Minds and Free Markets.)

The Case Against Egoistic, Libertarian Baby-Starving

Writing about the News for Schoolchildren: Theory and Practice (Discussion of communicating about current affairs and rights with schoolchildren through linguistic and esthetic symbols. 1. Theory: How to Write for Little Crows. 2. Practice: Some Reading Material for Little Crows.)

A Higher Power for Atheists and Agnostics (Discussion of the concept of Higher Power – then many Higher Powers – as presented in recovery programs, plus applying it to dieting, jogging, 12 step programs, marriages and families, career, as a “vehicle, and as a teacher of life’s sometimes painful lessons.)

Ideas and Addiction – How Religion and Philosophy Hurt and Help (Letters to Reason and Orange County Register on religion, philosophy and addiction.)

Thoughts on Ethics and Spirituality (Five brief pieces on ethical and spiritual topics. 1. “Happiness as a Proper Standard of Value.” 2. “Randian Atheism as Endo-Theism.” 3. “Prayer for Realists.” 4. “God Bless America! – an Atheist's Perspective.” 5. “Happiness and Self-Esteem as Non-Utilitarian Phenomena.”)

Tweaking the Transpersonalists: Science vs. the New Mysticism (E-mail posts to Journal of Consciousness Studies – JCS – online with a little help behind the scenes by Dean Brooks.)

Is It Ever "Finished"? – Life as a Non-Messianic Process (Inspirational Easter-time message, 1996.)

Nuking the Family (Nuclear family, extended family and government interference.)

Be Your Own Hero (Living up to your own expectation instead of those of others.)

The Direction, not the Destination (Brief inspirational comment on going through life.)

The Aesthetics of Ethics (Using ethics to make a stylized life like an artwork.)

Epistemology and the Ethics of AestheticsEpistemology and the Ethics of Aesthetics (Why aesthetics is primarily epistemological rather than ethical.)

Beyond Survival and Flourishing: The Aristotelian Tripod and the "Fullest Life" (Discussion of survival, flourishing, and generativity for life fulfillment, with egocentricity as impediment.)

Book Reviews (These are all on topics in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind.)

Can "Mentalist Monism" Save Mind and Morality from the Mechanistic Materialists? – Roger Sperry, Science and Moral Priority Merging Mind, Brain, and Human Values

Searle on Intentionality – John R. Searle, Intentionality

Review of Fred Dretske's Naturalizing the Mind

Review of Benny Shanon's The Representational and the Presentational

How Steven Pinker's Mind Works – Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works

Attending to Mind Itself – Edward Pols, Mind Regained

Beyond Compatibilism? – Robert Kane, The Significance of Free Will

Summary and comments – George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh (Chapter 8, "Metaphor and Truth," only – submitted to MIND internet discussion group on 10/21/99)

Review – Dean L. Overman, A Case Against Accident and Self-Organization

[Roger Bissell]

All of my essays published since 1999 in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (except for the most recent one: "The Logic of Liberty," which is subject to a 12-month "embargo") are now viewable and downloadable PDF files posted on the journal's website.

There is a lot of interesting material posted there, folks.

REB

[PDS]

All of my essays published since 1999 in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (except for the most recent one: "The Logic of Liberty," which is subject to a 12-month "embargo") are now viewable and downloadable PDF files posted on the journal's website.

There is a lot of interesting material posted there, folks.

REB

I just did a sampling of your materials and couldn't agree more. Thank you for making this available.

[BaalChatzaf]

Can "Mentalist Monism" Save Mind and Morality from the Mechanistic Materialists? – Roger Sperry, Science and Moral Priority Merging Mind, Brain, and Human Values

What is wrong with Mechanistic Materialists?. We are, after all, physical beings. We are made of atoms and molecules that obey physical and chemical laws. The most effect treatments of diseases flow from the physical and material modalities. Does anyone serious entertain the notion there is a non-material non-physical component to our being?

Ba'al Chatzaf