Background
Taylor, Richard was born on November 5, 1919 in Charlotte, Michigan, United States. Son of Floyd Clyde and Marie Louise (Milbourn) Taylor.
(What is the purpose and justification of government? Upon...)
What is the purpose and justification of government? Upon what grounds is a regime considered legitimate? These perennial questions take on added significance at a time when legislative paternalism produces regulations which conflict with individual freedom of choice; special interest groups demand not only to be heard but to have their ideals given the force of law; and when there exists a clear and present danger that the actions of government may threaten the very persons it was designed to protect. Richard Taylor argues that we must find "the role of government which is least incompatible with freedom and at the same time adequate to the basic needs of protection." Of course, many questions arise when pursuing this goal. What principle(s) should guide us in our quest? Recognizing that government is a coercive force, what restrictions could be placed upon the power of the state without rendering it impotent? Can individual freedom of expression be conciled with the actions of social groups which seek to impose their will on others? Should government's power be used to protect individuals from the consequences of their own freely chosen actions, especially when these consequences impact only upon the individuals themselves? What is the appropriate scope and range of the government's protective powers; to what lengths may a political regime go to protect its citizenry? Professor Taylor confronts these complex questions with clarity, candor and conviction. His analytic mind slices through tangled issues to expose the core of each problem. He argues forcefully for the position that effective government is minimal government. The primary function of political regimes should be to protect citizens from one another and from outside enemies. Beyond this basic role each additional exercise of the state's coercive power must be carefully scrutinized.
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(The ideas put forth in Restoring Pride will seem, to many...)
The ideas put forth in Restoring Pride will seem, to many readers, elitist. That's because they are. Richard Taylor rejects the popular notion that all people are equal, embracing instead the idea that some people are simply better than others as human beings. Their superiority has nothing to do with class, power, or wealth; they are better because they are gifted and have made the most of their g...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FDVAXXU/?tag=2022091-20
(This classic, provocative introduction to classical metap...)
This classic, provocative introduction to classical metaphysical questions focuses on appreciating the problems, rather than attempting to proffer answers.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0135678196/?tag=2022091-20
(The ideas put forth in Restoring Pride will seem, to many...)
The ideas put forth in Restoring Pride will seem, to many readers, elitist. That's because they are. Richard Taylor rejects the popular notion that all people are equal, embracing instead the idea that some people are simply better than others as human beings. Their superiority has nothing to do with class, power, or wealth; they are better because they are gifted and have made the most of their gifts. Taylor doesn't try to be politically correct and makes no apologies; he explains what it means to be more than normal and encourages people to fulfill their potential. Pride, according to Taylor, is the justified love of oneself for having achieved personal excellence. People who use their natural gifts for significant and lasting achievements have the right to be proud of themselves. Furthermore, virtually everyone is in some way gifted. Some people hone their talents and better themselves while others follow paths that are easy, pleasant, common. People who fail to nourish and perfect their talents, who do only what is expected of them, are wasting their lives. We all have gifts and we need to identify them and excel in the areas in which we're gifted. Put another way, figure out what you're good at . . . and do it. Superior people, people who are justifiably proud, are not concerned with what others think of them, but with how they measure up in their own eyes. They are their own most demanding judges. Although proud people set their own standards higher, and make their own rules stricter than those others might subject them to, there is a rule of conduct that must guide their relations with other people: be considerate. If they adhere to this maxim when dealing with friends or strangers, with great and powerful people or people unknown, they will need no other rule of right and wrong. Taylor's definition of pride leaves no room for conceit. Arrogance and self-centered behavior, he believes, have no place in the lives of the proud.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157392024X/?tag=2022091-20
Taylor, Richard was born on November 5, 1919 in Charlotte, Michigan, United States. Son of Floyd Clyde and Marie Louise (Milbourn) Taylor.
Bachelor of Arts, Univercity Illinois, 1941; A.M., Oberlin College, 1947; Doctor of Philosophy, Brown U., 1951.
Faculty, Brown U., 1951-1952, 53-63;
professor philosophy, Brown U., 1958-1963;
department chairman, Brown U., 1959-1960;
William Herbert Perry Faunce professor philosophy, Brown U., 1959-1963;
professor philosophy graduate faculty, Columbia, 1963-1966;
professor philosophy, U. Rochester, New York, since 1966;
department chairman, U. Rochester, 1966-1969. Faculty Swarthmore College, 1953, Ohio State University, summer 1959, Cornell Univercity, summer 1961. Visiting professor philosophy Columbia, 1962, Ohio State University, 1963.
Visiting Robert D. Campbell professor philosophy Wells College, 1967-1968. Visiting Robert H. Truax professor philosophy Hamilton College, 1971. Visiting Melvin Hill professor humanities Hobart-William Smith Colls., 1974.
Leavitt-Spencer Adjunct Professor philosophy Union College, 1981-1989. Distinguished resident philosopher Hartwick College, since 1989.
(What is the purpose and justification of government? Upon...)
(Metaphysics of the Gods explores the concept that we are ...)
(This classic, provocative introduction to classical metap...)
(The ideas put forth in Restoring Pride will seem, to many...)
(The ideas put forth in Restoring Pride will seem, to many...)
(Book by Taylor, Richard)
Although Taylor is usually assigned a place among analytic philosophers, as a result of his approach to such topics as time, causality, action and purpose, from the beginning he looked with favour on at least one version of the argument from design, held humans to be not very much like machines and, while not demonstrating that they can do otherwise, he believed he had ‘destroyed all the familiar philosophical arguments purporting to show that they cannot’. His later view, still less encumbered, which he has called ‘serious philosophy’ and philosophia perennis, separates him from the usual sense given to ‘analytic philosophy’. Perhaps the perennial philosophy fills up the gaps left by analytic philosophy. The meaning of life is now said to be found in the will to live, and in the activities engendered by that will. Still later, its meaning ‘is not to do but simply to he'. We are invited, at least by indirection, to turn from the cold reality of intellect to an obvious but unsayable knowledge that God, whose creation we are and whom we should love with absolute love, exists. ‘Nature. God and the self—which is both an illusion and the only thing there is—never begin, never cease. In the second edition of Freedom, Anarchy, and the Law (1982) he placed himself within the ‘libertarian framework’ of social philosophy, while cautioning that there are no natural rights to life and property, and that the foundation of rights is utilitarian.
Served to lieutenant United States Naval Reserve, 1943-1947. Member American Philosophical Association, Phi Beta Kappa.
Son of Floyd Clyde and Marie Louise (Milbourn) T. M. Thelma Maxine Elworthy, January 14, 1944 (divorced 1961). Children: Christopher, Randall.
M. Hylda Carpenter Higginson, December 26, 1961 (divorced 1985). 1 step daughter, Molly. M. Kim Fontana, October 8, 1985.
Children: Aristotle, Xeno.