I was lucky enough to come across a podcast in this American life, regarding an old theory but I guess a surging philosophy regarding what Ayn Rand coined as Objectivism. Prior to last week this is a philosophy I had never heard of. I do believe I had heard of Ms. Rand but I am not sure exactly in what context. The philosophy is as summed up concisely on her web site and is best described by Ayn Rand as follows:
My philosophy, Objectivism, holds that:
1. Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.
2. Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
3. Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
4. The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man’s rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.
I think this is a very interesting philosophy indeed. Listening to the lecturer promoting objectivism ideals I was dumbfounded. According to the lecture series, the American political system really is suspended by 2 contradicting ideals. #1. Right winged (Christian Conservatism) becoming more conservative…. and #2 Left winged “post Woodstock” idealism and the greatest of all proposed evils “environmentalism”
I thought this was crazy, who could blame environmentalism for anything bad? But the speaker did make some good points, including environmentalists continued support of end of world ideals that in their very own right are a bit overstated and fear inducing, even I must admit upon careful consideration.
But the speaker proposed that the best political candidate would be one that would get nothing done for another 20 years. He assumed this is why Bill Clinton was so good at his job, and he also proposed Hillary would be good for the same reasons. He felt John McCain was against objectivism ideals because he had sold out to the Christian conservatives, and felt Obama was the combination of the worst case scenario… Why?? Because he brought together two irrational ideas.. in unison, Christianity and environmentalism.. Accordingly when both carry a common denominator i.e. protecting the world because “God made it” is a reasonable assertion, we are all basically screwed….
I thought this was fascinating, is Barack Obama truly the end of America as we know it.. I am interested in the 3’rd and 4’th point of objectivism… number 3 really says that (at least as far as I can tell) that men live for themselves and therefore really only owe it to themselves to survive.. At all possible costs??? And what is a government that polices man’s rights?? I guess the true question is do we have a right to anything, health care for that matter… we Americans often want it all: our rights, without sacrifice… Anyway, I was fascinated by this all, it is nice in this world of left wing and right wing politics to hear a different opinion, and whether or not I agree with it (and I am not sure about this one) it is nice to see both sides of the story. Environmentalists crazy?? Well look at its history, how many times has the end of the world worked out just the way they said it would .. Maybe there is a truth to this, maybe evolution can find its way through the woods. Can we find a responsible medium, is religion a crazy ideal, is the blending of religion and environmentalism as embodied by Barack Obama the epitome of lost causes, or are we collectively more conscious?? I guess time will decide: for more info on objectivism:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_intro
One advantage of being older, that is if we also pursue truth, we have examined many of these ideas already. I’ve read Ayn Rands book, Atlas Shrugged, twice and listened to it on tape once. It is an enjoyable read, and while there is some merit to some of what she says, much of it is idealistic poppycock.
She also wrote a book called, The Virtue of Selfishness. I read it because, I at times, think it’s important to use selfishness for good purposes, but the greed of the R’s, who quite often claim her as their own, makes one wonder. It’s like using the Bible to do things the author would condemn.
Ayn was a contradiction herself. Rent the movie, The Passion of Ayn Rand. I have the book, but haven’t read it. Only watched the movie. I used to get the Objectivist Newsletter, but stopped or they stopped sending it, one or the other.
You can also rent the movie, The Fountainhead, which is another of her novels. It’s a good movie and thought provoking. It’s old and in black and white but it has some good actors in it.
I believe that sanity is being objective and seeing the world as it is while hoping for a world that could be. So I agree with Ayn that we need to see things objectively, but I know few people who can. I do think Barack Obama, as did Abraham Lincoln, sees the world as objectively as humans can.