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Robert A. HeinleinRobert A. Heinlein is possibly the most amazing author of science fictionever. He has well over 100 published works, including novels, short stories, non-fiction essays, and poems. I have read almost all of his fiction works, as well as afew of the non-fiction essays, and the ideas espoused within them have been thecornerstone of my education in philosophy. Before I delve into his ideas, you needto know some background information about this truly great man.Born in Missouri as the third of seven children in a devout Methodist family,Heinlein gave up organized religion in his teens. While it is not certain whatexactly his views on the subject were, much can be gathered from his books andwritings. He went to high school and junior college in Kansas City, moved toAnnapolis and attended the Naval Academy from 1925 to 1929, and graduatedwith a commission in the United States Navy. According to the site:RAH, awebsite dedicated to Robert Heinlein, he spent the majority of his naval career onthe USS Lexington. However, he was involuntarily transferred to a much smaller ship on which the continual roll caused him to be almost constantly seasick,eventually causing him to be discharged from the navy as permanently disabledwhen he caught tuberculosis as a result of his constantly weakened condition. In1939, needing a way to support himself and his wife, he turned to writing.
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Heinlein was gravely ill several times in his life, finally passing away in 1988 after three wives and no children.And now, on to the philosophy of Robert A. Heinlein. His works expressideas on subjects ranging from polygamy and societal mores to governmental process and the “future history” of the earth. One of my favorite ideas of his is“private sphere.” Private sphere would in effect completely destroy the business of tabloids and their ilk. Your private sphere is what you do that does not affect theworld at large. Heinlein wrote a book that was basically his version of 
Utopia
.You may recall that Thomas Moore wrote
Utopia
as a social commentary tellingwhat he thought the best way to run a country was, all under the veneer of a pleasant story. Heinlein wrote
 For Us, The Living 
in the same vein. The story lineis somewhat sparse and flat, with long lectures delivered to the main character, aman mysteriously transported many years into the future concerning the way thingsare different. This character later goes on to become an astronaut. When he isabout to blast off and the cameras are rolling, he finishes his speech to the peopleand calls out “private sphere”. The cameras stop rolling and the surrounding people turn away as he kisses his wives goodbye. Yes, I said wives. Heinlein hada very different view on morality than most people of his time. He felt that itwasn’t anyone’s business who one loved or how they went about doing it. He hadvery strong feelings against anyone interfering in people’s personal lives. He felt
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that the concept of marriage was a declaration of mutual love and desire between people, not a social or religious contract. In
 For Us, The Living 
, the governmenthas embraced the concept of private sphere so thoroughly that there is nogovernmental contract decreeing that a couple is married. There are privatefinancial agreements and the like for people who want to enter into them, but most people don’t bother. And yes, all of this is told under the disguise of the future.One of the most popular sets of Heinlein novels revolve around a future historytimeline, with such differences as the space program’s being a private enterpriseand, in some versions, a religious dictatorship taking hold of the United States for atime as a display against fanatical, evangelical, intolerant religions. Now, you might be thinking “Ok, so does that mean she’s a polygamistwho’s given up organized religion?” This is not the case. I haven’t beencompletely won over to Heinlein’s point of view. For all his good ideas, he had afew ideas that are just too way out there. But for the most part, he has influencedme greatly. Heinlein placed great importance on governmental non-interference,and he demonstrated and defended this idea well. He showed the ineffectivenessof trying to legislate private lives and argued that trying to do so was immoral initself, creating a nice counterpoint to the people who attempt to outlaw “immoral”acts. He was also very much against most forms of organized religion. He was of the opinion that religion was the opiate of the masses and seemed to be a nervous
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