Did you read any of Ayn Rand's work?

[saosin_demo]

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haven't finished fountainhead yet. I just got it this week.

[Egoist]

ok

[crose]

nice bani cya nga author? di man ko tig read ug mga novels.. dili kaau hilig but kung mu ingon mo nindot ang content.. i would.

[Egoist]

nice bani cya nga author? di man ko tig read ug mga novels.. dili kaau hilig but kung mu ingon mo nindot ang content.. i would.

nice

[brownprose]

I read her book "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" which was surprisingly persuasive for someone (like me) who doesn't agree in absolute "free economy" or laissez-faire capitalism. however, i have a problem bridging my and her brand of moral philosophy which is largely "self-centeric" or individualistic.

by and large, she definitely is knock out on matters of political economy and epistemology -- so radical yet so rationally practical. although i must admit she is really more than your time's worth, you need to be also critical as you read since you will find some of her thoughts ethically disturbing.

[The_Child]

rational egoism is an interesting idea. Ayn Rand's brand of rational egoism or what she calls Rational Selfishness is an interesting philosophy it bridges laissez-faire, Social Evolutionary theory, etc..., Until of course you reach that point in ethics called the double-effect case of a particular scenario which smashes rand's philosophy as something Subjective or whimsical, the very opposite of she conceives of, objective and rational.

but of cours, dont bother yourself with that yet. Enjoy her first.

[brownprose]

rational egoism is an interesting idea. Ayn Rand's brand of rational egoism or what she calls Rational Selfishness is an interesting philosophy it bridges laissez-faire, Social Evolutionary theory, etc..., Until of course you reach that point in ethics called the double-effect case of a particular scenario which smashes rand's philosophy as something Subjective or whimsical, the very opposite of she conceives of, objective and rational.

but of cours, dont bother yourself with that yet. Enjoy her first.

i just did...and will continue to do so if u will lend me some of what u got there...hehehe

[The_Child]

i have the following books on Ayn Rand:

The FountainHead
Atlas Shrugged
The Early Ayn Rand
Capitalism the uNknown Ideal
OPAR by Peikoff
Objectivst Epistmology
Virtue of Selfishness


hehehe. but im not selling it. sorry. naa man daghan sa national.

[gareb]

Ayn Rand is a must-read for those who want to be convinced that the way toward humanity's advancement should be based on certain selfish motives. many laissez-faire economists and right-libertarians point to her work as an academic treatise that is available for everyone's perusal.

one curious thing about Ayn Rand's ideas is how she uses her terms and places new meaning on them (which isn't really new, by the way). the words "egoism", "altruism", and "objectivism" are few of these terms that derive their new meanings from their old usage but has somehow been altered by Randian philosophy. talking about her ideas, it is best to know beforehand how she defines these terms.

because of the dominant economic trend that deify market capitalism (in its many forms and versions), Ayn Rands ideas can sound very tempting; a moral justification to certain selfish desires. it elevates self-interest and the well-being of the self above everything else. selfish happiness becomes the ultimate moral goal. the only thing that she allows to temper such force is objective reasoning. incidentally, you can hear her ideas being echoed if you are a fan of those self-help books. pop psychology, albeit in a more subdued and vague form, have some of her ideas as their centerpieces.

these are very uncomfortable ideas for us who have been brought believing in the moral value of altruism. and rightly so, for her philosophy skewers the delicate balance between "self" and "others", and the gray area that exists between both, by seeing the whole human existence exclusively from the egoistic perspective, claiming every act of supposed altruism and cooperation as initially selfishly motivated acts that became "altruistic" and "cooperative" in form because objective reasoning dictates that it is the only way to achieve "moral happiness".

the Randian world presents a brave, if not rosy picture for the individual at full power, at the fullest of his own potential (not 'her' as Ayn Rand has her own issues against feminism and how one should view women). however, it does not say anything about those individuals who don't possess either of these two just yet. and in the pursuit of self-interest, every individual will strive, usually stepping on another's head, to reach the top. minority and majority become inconsequential and irrelevant terms; only as means to an end. and in the end, what matters most is power.

empathy is nowhere to be found in Randian morality and justice only exists for those who can wield it. and because of this, Ayn Rand's Objectivism succeeds only for those seek a justification for rational egoism, or any of the other kinds of egoists that abound for that matter. unfortunately, her philosophy spectacularly fails to those who have been run over by it.

[The_Child]

empathy is nowhere to be found in Randian morality and justice only exists for those who can wield it.

and this is the tricky part. because randian ethics is not only selfish but also deontological. how could one conceived of an deontological selfish ethics? thats Rand.