Bøger af Ronald Pisaturo

The Doomsday Argument, Self-Sampling Assumption, and Self-Indication Assumption are wrong; J. Richard Gott III's delta t argument underestimates longevity, providing lower bounds on probabilities of longevity, and is equivalent to Laplace's Rule of Succession; but Non-Parametric Predictive Inference based on the work of Bruce M. Hill and Frank P.A. Coolen is consistent with a plausible theory of induction; and Ayn Rand's identification of characteristics as ranges of measurement establishes a philosophical foundation for such a theory of induction.This monograph is a much-revised and much-expanded version of the author's article, "Past Longevity as Evidence for the Future," published in Philosophy of Science (January 2009), often recognized as the leading peer-reviewed journal in its field. Since its publication, that article has been cited favorably in these top-ranked philosophical journals: Journal of Philosophy, Analysis, Synthese, and Ratio.

This book, now in its second edition, offers original answers to all the major open questions in epistemology-as indicated by the book's title. These questions and answers arise organically in the course of a validation of the entire corpus of human knowledge. The book explains how we know what we know, and how well we know it. The author presents a positive theory, motivated and directed at every step not by a need to reply to skeptics or subjectivists, but by the need of a rational individual to know the world. The author draws heavily from Ayn Rand's theory of concepts as presented in her book, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, but departs from her epistemology-especially as explicated by leading exponents of her philosophy-in important ways. Areas of departure include the perception of entities and the role of probability theory in epistemology. A main idea in the book is to begin the validation of the law of causality by identifying that existence causes our consciousness of it. Another key idea is this: The very fact that we perceive entities is the most basic and most extensive evidence that causal forces and causal interactions are regular. Applying Ayn Rand's principle that characteristics are ranges of measurement, Pisaturo offers a philosophical validation of "nonparametric predictive inference," in turn providing an objective basis for prior probabilities in Bayesian analysis. This book is primarily for a specialized readership-familiar with epistemological ideas and with Ayn Rand's theory of concepts in particular. The last third of the book uses probability theory and mathematics somewhat beyond basic calculus, but less mathematical explanations are also included to make the general ideas accessible to lay readers.

This book, now in its second edition, presents a theory of heterosexual romantic love. The book argues that heterosexuality enables romantic love in a way that integrates with all aspects of a man and woman, especially masculine power and feminine beauty. Author Ronald Pisaturo identifies differences between men and women while recognizing the utmost intellectual ability, rationality, and resultant moral virtue possible in equal measure to each sex. Pisaturo argues that sexual orientation is the result of volition in the same way that other values pertaining to romantic love are volitional: Although we do not directly choose our sexual orientation, as we do not directly choose what personality traits will attract us, we do make more basic choices that cause our sexual orientation.Pisaturo debunks the mainstream theories that "affirm" non-heterosexual orientations, and argues that objective cognition-in particular, the holding of concepts that clearly identify and emphasize sex-specific romantic values-requires that the concept of marriage refer only to man-woman relationships. Moreover, the proper role of government in marriage is as protector of individual rights-of the husband, wife, and their children-not as social engineer for the "public good."This book offers an objective alternative to the following false alternative regarding the subject of sexual orientation: the authority of religion vs. the subjectivism that has infected much of modern philosophy, science, and culture.An overarching theme of the book is that every individual should understand the personal, chosen values that are consistent with his own sexual orientation. With deeper understanding comes deeper love.