Question: I would like to know what word an Objectivist uses to denote what the rest of the world would call "selfish." This person would be called a ??? person. Answer: There isn't one Objectivist code for this. Ayn Rand's comments in the preface to The Virtue of Selfishness notwithstanding, some people with a good grasp of Objectivism prefer to use "selfish" in a pejorative sense. I am not one of them, however, and I agree with Ayn Rand that the equation of self-interest with evil is a cultural artifact that we must not keep reaffirming. What follows reflects my own usage.
Question: What will be the view of an Objectivist on the detention of terrorists who were captured during the Afghanistan war? What is the Objectivist view on war in Iraq? Answer: In our "War for Civilization" commentary section, you can find all our commentaries on the war on terrorism and the Iraq war. The Atlas Society as such is a philosophical organization. We do not have a formal position as an organization on either of these issues.
Question: If humans are selfish, how come they go out of their way to help a baby or save a dog out of the kindness of their heart, without even thinking about the action before doing it? Answer: Objectivism does not hold that humans are selfish. It holds that humans should be rationally selfish and act in support of their own lives and happiness. In fact, few people are consistently and rationally selfish. People are taught to sacrifice themselves to others, and do sacrifice themselves to others all the time.
Objectivists mean by "spiritual values" those values that fulfill the needs of human consciousness. The word "spirit" indeed refers
It is my view that scholarly writing has several distinctive characteristics: It shows careful reading of primary sources and a thorough
The Business Rights Watch covers a number of different issues: Overcriminalzation is one, obviously, the process of making illegal that whic
Perception gives one an integrated awareness of an entity, distinct from the background of everything else in the universe, in some form...
The question of the moral permissibility of suicide for an egoistic philosophy is fascinating. It is challenging for Objectivism , which
If I understand the Bush administration's proposal from early 2005, it was intended to transition the Social Security system to something
Sociobiology is the doctrine that we have fundamental behaviors and psychological characteristics that are explained by the incentives
Sports are stylized, physical activities that call on a usually limited range of human talents, but they showcase excellence in the areas
I am sorry that, living in Argentina as you do, you have suffered through a terrible economic collapse. But you were not living in anything
To my knowledge, Ayn Rand came somewhat independently to her own views. She may have imbibed Paine second-hand through such Old-Right
At the time when Ayn Rand wrote most of her non-fiction (the 1960s), half the world’s population was under avowedly Communist or Socialist
Objectivity , as Ayn Rand defined and clarified it, is a certain characteristic describing the use of one’s reason and the degree to which
Before I get into the similarities and differences between Social Darwinism and Objectivism , I should point out that this accusation you...
Ayn Rand herself smoked, and many Objectivists still do. Objectivism has no particular position on smoking as such. However, I will comment
Objectivism does not hold that happiness is the ultimate goal. It holds that happiness is the ultimate purpose in life.This is an important
Question: According to Objectivism , am I being rational by putting nothing above the judgment of my own mind? Or (according to Objectivism), am I being irrational by rejecting the authority of an MD? Answer: Objectivism holds that one key element of the virtue of independence is thinking for yourself. Ultimately, no matter what anyone tells you, you have to decide what is true based on your own context of knowledge. Only you can judge for yourself the objectivity of your reasoning. Only when you think something through do you know fully that the conclusion is logically derived from the facts. However, it is a fact that on any given topic there are usually others who know a heck of a lot more than most of us do. If we have very good reasons to think that they are not lying and have been objective in their reasoning, then we have good reason to incorporate their information into our knowledge (provided, of course, that we can integrate it with what we already know and with our own experience). You can get news of the world from a newspaper. You can learn science by testing the theories in a textbook. You can take medicines based on the advice of doctors, pharmacists, and medical researchers. And those are just a few examples of rational ways in which we use the information of reliable experts.
Question: I've read most of Ayn Rand's work, and aside from her views on theism [which in my view, can be a rational belief] and abortion, I am in total agreement with her philosophy (I am still a Christian). Would the Objectivist movement be welcoming of people like me? And, would it be acceptable for me to refer to myself as an Objectivist or, at the very least, a quasi-Objectivist? Answer: The extent to which you agree or do not agree with the ideas of Objectivism is ultimately a fact you must evaluate for yourself. There are a variety of levels on which one might consider oneself an Objectivist, from the brief description of Objectivism (from the appendix to Atlas Shrugged) that appears on our "About Objectivism" page, to the sketch of distinctive positions in Objectivism that David Kelley describes in The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand. At an extreme, one might be in lockstep with all and only what Ayn Rand said and wrote, but this would probably reflect such a lack of independent thought—because it would at least fail to integrate one's own context and current events with Rand's ideas—that one would not deserve the appellation "Objectivist" in that case.
Question: I would like to know what word an Objectivist uses to denote what the rest of the world would call "selfish." This person would be called a ??? person. Answer: There isn't one Objectivist code for this. Ayn Rand's comments in the preface to The Virtue of Selfishness notwithstanding, some people with a good grasp of Objectivism prefer to use "selfish" in a pejorative sense. I am not one of them, however, and I agree with Ayn Rand that the equation of self-interest with evil is a cultural artifact that we must not keep reaffirming. What follows reflects my own usage.
Question: What will be the view of an Objectivist on the detention of terrorists who were captured during the Afghanistan war? What is the Objectivist view on war in Iraq? Answer: In our "War for Civilization" commentary section, you can find all our commentaries on the war on terrorism and the Iraq war. The Atlas Society as such is a philosophical organization. We do not have a formal position as an organization on either of these issues.
Question: If humans are selfish, how come they go out of their way to help a baby or save a dog out of the kindness of their heart, without even thinking about the action before doing it? Answer: Objectivism does not hold that humans are selfish. It holds that humans should be rationally selfish and act in support of their own lives and happiness. In fact, few people are consistently and rationally selfish. People are taught to sacrifice themselves to others, and do sacrifice themselves to others all the time.
Objectivists mean by "spiritual values" those values that fulfill the needs of human consciousness. The word "spirit" indeed refers
It is my view that scholarly writing has several distinctive characteristics: It shows careful reading of primary sources and a thorough
The Business Rights Watch covers a number of different issues: Overcriminalzation is one, obviously, the process of making illegal that whic
Perception gives one an integrated awareness of an entity, distinct from the background of everything else in the universe, in some form...
The question of the moral permissibility of suicide for an egoistic philosophy is fascinating. It is challenging for Objectivism , which
If I understand the Bush administration's proposal from early 2005, it was intended to transition the Social Security system to something
Sociobiology is the doctrine that we have fundamental behaviors and psychological characteristics that are explained by the incentives
Sports are stylized, physical activities that call on a usually limited range of human talents, but they showcase excellence in the areas
I am sorry that, living in Argentina as you do, you have suffered through a terrible economic collapse. But you were not living in anything
To my knowledge, Ayn Rand came somewhat independently to her own views. She may have imbibed Paine second-hand through such Old-Right
At the time when Ayn Rand wrote most of her non-fiction (the 1960s), half the world’s population was under avowedly Communist or Socialist
Objectivity , as Ayn Rand defined and clarified it, is a certain characteristic describing the use of one’s reason and the degree to which
Before I get into the similarities and differences between Social Darwinism and Objectivism , I should point out that this accusation you...
Ayn Rand herself smoked, and many Objectivists still do. Objectivism has no particular position on smoking as such. However, I will comment
Objectivism does not hold that happiness is the ultimate goal. It holds that happiness is the ultimate purpose in life.This is an important
Question: According to Objectivism , am I being rational by putting nothing above the judgment of my own mind? Or (according to Objectivism), am I being irrational by rejecting the authority of an MD? Answer: Objectivism holds that one key element of the virtue of independence is thinking for yourself. Ultimately, no matter what anyone tells you, you have to decide what is true based on your own context of knowledge. Only you can judge for yourself the objectivity of your reasoning. Only when you think something through do you know fully that the conclusion is logically derived from the facts. However, it is a fact that on any given topic there are usually others who know a heck of a lot more than most of us do. If we have very good reasons to think that they are not lying and have been objective in their reasoning, then we have good reason to incorporate their information into our knowledge (provided, of course, that we can integrate it with what we already know and with our own experience). You can get news of the world from a newspaper. You can learn science by testing the theories in a textbook. You can take medicines based on the advice of doctors, pharmacists, and medical researchers. And those are just a few examples of rational ways in which we use the information of reliable experts.
Question: I've read most of Ayn Rand's work, and aside from her views on theism [which in my view, can be a rational belief] and abortion, I am in total agreement with her philosophy (I am still a Christian). Would the Objectivist movement be welcoming of people like me? And, would it be acceptable for me to refer to myself as an Objectivist or, at the very least, a quasi-Objectivist? Answer: The extent to which you agree or do not agree with the ideas of Objectivism is ultimately a fact you must evaluate for yourself. There are a variety of levels on which one might consider oneself an Objectivist, from the brief description of Objectivism (from the appendix to Atlas Shrugged) that appears on our "About Objectivism" page, to the sketch of distinctive positions in Objectivism that David Kelley describes in The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand. At an extreme, one might be in lockstep with all and only what Ayn Rand said and wrote, but this would probably reflect such a lack of independent thought—because it would at least fail to integrate one's own context and current events with Rand's ideas—that one would not deserve the appellation "Objectivist" in that case.