A Refutation of Primitivism

Posted by rbroberg 8 years, 1 month ago to Philosophy
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Anarcho-Primitivism is anti-Objectivist to the fullest extent and anti-life to the extent that human beings are rational. The quandary is that if irrationality is making a comeback, even compounding upon itself as irrationality for the sake of irrationality, then who is to stop this from occurring? Which is to ask: To what extent is my selfishness bound up in lifting up people's minds for their betterment and therefore my own? Let me address these one by one.

Anarcho-Primitivism is the philosophic identification with pre-historic social systems. Hunter gatherer societies are the preference in this school of thought. But it was not a "primitive" man who expressed anarcho-primitivism and devised its tenets. He was instead a literate man. The view that the alteration of the natural world is negative stems from a kind of combination of Parmenides' belief that change is impossible and of Heraclitus' belief that opposites have a common base. The latter can be seen in both Marx and Nietzsche. The importation of these pre-Socratic views is a vivid illustration of how the intellectual world has willingly contributed to and sought out its own demise.

Objectivism teaches that the pinnacle of ancient thought was Aristotle and it is true that his philosophical achievements established the foundation for Rand's successive philosophic system. The enshrinement of reason is no mistake, it is absolutely necessary to expose the various Platonic and pre-Socratic mistakes attributable to modern philosophers. "To expose" and not to assuage because to assuage or placate is to compromise on principles in this context. The task of the intellectual confronted with the specter of these errors, which in this era should rightly be ascribed to their doers as deliberate, is indeed to expose and remove (cut out) irrationality from the appearance of rationality, i.e. to sever the rotten roots rationalism (i.e. rational idealism).

Regarding the last question, the motivation and goal-directed action determine the specific goals of a rational person. With the realization that Objective thought leads to philosophical, intellectual, and scientific growth, our selfish interest out to be a better world. The argument against this is "I cannot benefit beyond my lifespan". He who has perished cannot experience the wonders and miracles of future enlightenment, so to speak. Yet this view of selfishness is completely solipsistic. Do not make the mistake of Bernie Madoff. The view that immediate material reward for work is the proper definition of selfishness is NOT ACCURATE. Howard Roark worked years to perfect his craft and eventually destroyed it in order to claim it. He worked for the sake of his craft and his love of it in the same way that John Galt thought for the sake of life and his love of it. The bridge on the John Galt Line would have lasted well into the next century.

The argument against selfishness is that impermanence reduces life to meaningless robotics of reproduction of death. Since all men are mortal, then selfishness demands there is no reason to care for the world beyond one's own existence. Therefore, altruism - living for the sake of others - is the only recourse because some invisible chain linking the lives of those who sacrificed themselves to others lives on in our place. This is the god of the altruists. Yet it is clear that if each person sacrifices himself to the next, then each of the members of the human race has done so in a circle of self-sacrifice benefitting no entity but the invisible chain or god or whatever else. But this impersonal god then lives on the human sacrifice, which must be a mistake since God is supposed to be merciful and just. It is impossible to conceive of a merciful and just God that also requires every man to sacrifice himself to the interest of others while denying himself the benefit of receiving the good, even from himself!

Im summation, rationalism required supernaturalism in order to maintain the premise that consciousness precedes existence. Modernism required collectivism in order to maintain the premise that altruism trumps selfishness. Thus altruism and primacy of consciousness are corollaries. Both require the defaulting on or stealing of the concept of objective reality. This is ample argument to disprove Marx and therefore also Heraclitus. Parmenides and Heraclitus has opposite views on change and yet each of these views are smuggled into Anarcho-Primitivism. In this way, Anarcho-Primitivism, like most forms of mysticism, is without a coherent, reducible, hierarchical systematization of concepts and must therefore lead to contradictory results. Contradictions cannot exist and reality does exist, therefore, contradictory results are false. It is not a contradiction to work for a better world after we die, so long as it is in one's own rational interest.


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  • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    In my study of the Greek language (and my having lived there for two years), the Greeks actually have several words of application. One is psyche - also the root of psychology, etc. It has a distinct spiritual connotation indicating the body as a mere covering for animation by an inner power. The study of psychology - at least according to the Greek roots - is very much a philosophical study as much as modern science labels it a clinical one.

    I would also note that this word psyche predates the Greeks conversion to the Christianity offered by Constantine; it was not a religiously-inspired word. The real question (as you note from De Anima) pondered by Greeks including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (in that order chronologically) was how to explain the difference between a "living" person and a "dead" one.

    Polis is similarly an interesting word in Greek because the connotation there is more than just a group of people conducting business, but about a way of life - a philosophy as it were. To truly be a citizen of a city one had to embrace the philosophy and political nature of that city. Americans have a very difficult time understanding that to most other cultures, religion is deeply ingrained in everything they do. It isn't casual: one doesn't simply turn it on for a few hours on Sunday and spend the rest of the week doing whatever one wants. (If you want to see the true extent, try going to Greece and getting anything out of a government office; they're closed 2 days out of every five for religious holidays. You'll laugh, but I'm not kidding.)
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  • Posted by philosophercat 8 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Jane Jacobs was one of the few but extraordinary thinkers of the 20th century who started as a socialist anti-war activist and ended as a free market capitalist. She observed that central planning didn't work and reasoned out why. CIties are not forms in space they are economic systems which require "replacement of imports" to grow and prosper. When regulation and "planning" substitute for ecoonmoic freedom stagnation and decay set in and the economic powerhouse of innovation that is a free city collapses. She expanded her ideas in "Cities and the Wealth of Nations" to show that countries depend on free cities (See Venezuela and Caracas) for vibrant economies. She ended, "Dark Age Ahead" with a pessimistic view of the possibility of her compatriots ever grasping her ideas as true. She adopted a Socratic dialogue format as didactic writing wasn't going any where. Ask more!
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  • Posted by philosophercat 8 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I recently read Aristotle's "De Anima" and was struck by the contemporary translation of the title as "on the soul" which is the Christian sense of what is it that gives life. Aristotle meant it as "What is that property that gives life to animate things?" "What is that difference between the moment of life and death that makes the difference." He then gives a brilliant observation based description of what he calls "the nutritive naturel of life" that corresponds to what we know of life from contemporary biothermodynamics. Also read Christian Meier's book "Athens" on the struggle to find words when there were none to explain the new ideas of what is a "Polis". and how to govern one. Go Greeks. Also Eric Havelock's "A Preface to Plato" on the Greek struggle to switch from an oral tradition to a written tradition.
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  • Posted by philosophercat 8 years, 1 month ago
    This is the best example of incoherent writing I have seen in a long time. What on earth is "Rand's successive philosophic system." Successive of what? What language did hunter gatherers speak? The "presocratics" did not rely on supernaturalism they in fact accepted the real world and tried to explain it. I suggest that you take the excellent free course on philosophy offered by the Ayn Rand Institute and read Dr. Peikoff's book on effective communication. Youthful enthusiasm in the face of evil is no substitute for sound scholarship.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 1 month ago
    Clear and easily understood exposition.
    I would be interested in the actual practice of Objectivism in its relation to meeting a person of unknown philosophy. Since Objectivism has ruled much of my life over many years, I find myself interested in others of the same philosophy, particularly how they act upon meeting strangers, and how they act upon meeting notables.
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  • Posted by wiggys 8 years, 1 month ago
    Rationalism required SUPERNATURALISM ; what the hell does that mean?
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  • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I speak Greek and via my wife (a linguist), I would argue that the English language is not an advancement upon Greek at all. To be a good language it should have clear diction (consistency of pronunciation), clear grammar, and rules with a minimum of exceptions. English fails in all three of these regards. English has duplication of sounds, grammar rules that confuse any ESL student, and more exceptions than rules. I would also argue that the proliferation of synonyms, while it is great for poetry, is terrible for legal statutes. In my wife's words, "English is probably the most bastardized language in the world."

    To the contrary, Greek adheres to these basic fundamentals very well. There are words which are similar, but each different word has a distinct connotation: epimainw vs perimainw for example (really wish I could figure out how to get the actual Greek characters in here). The diction is distinct with a minimum of duplication (note: Modern Greek has mushed many of the vowel sounds together into "e" where in the ancient they were distinct) and the grammar rules have a minimum of exceptions - mostly caused by modern slurring.

    Just because something is newer doesn't automatically make it better. (I tell this to my CIO all the freaking time when he asks about updates.) In language, age typically dumbs down a language - not enhances it. For a classic example, simply read several of the Federalist Papers. You don't see correspondence like that today because much of the richness in vocabulary in the English language has been abandoned by simply not being taught.
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  • Posted by tkstone 8 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Rational interest extended to our progeny is to me one of the strongest arguments in favor of selfishness. Sometimes I am sure some of my comments questioning technology and science are perceived as being antiscience, but in actuality it is my cautious nature wanting to be sure there are limited unintended consequences. The older I get the more resistant to change because I have witnessed unintended consequences that created too many "oops". Youthful exuberance and brave adventurers have their place and I appreciate them greatly, but I still maintain that sage wisdom has its place in the arena of thought as well.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 8 years, 1 month ago
    My view of why we should care about value we create after we are gone has been that some people just want to do it. This article makes me question if my view is simplistic, with me just shrugging off the question saying de gustibus.

    As far as things that last beyond our life like the Galt Line bridge, the stream of financial benefits could be amortized into a present value and sold into one big payment for the people who invested in the project. In the case of Roark's building, he didn't want money or fame from it. He just liked the building, had it been built according to his plans. I thought he liked it for himself and didn't care what happened to it after he died. I may be wrong about that.

    Similar to amortizing future benefits into our lifetime, if we do something that incurs cost on people in the future, the people incurring them need to pay those amortized costs. Being dead when the effects of the theft are realized or not being able to quantify the costs with absolute certitude does not make the theft moral.
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  • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 8 years, 1 month ago
    I'd by lying if I didn't admit that I had to look a few things up. Thank you.

    Interesting read.

    The only rational interest, at least as far as I'm concerned, to achieve anything lasting beyond my lifetime is the lives of my offspring and their continued well being.

    I take great pleasure from my writings and my game production but I'm sure not getting rich off my novels. In time perhaps my writings will amount to something more than a a few dinners out every month but for now I'm content for the personal satisfaction and a good slice or bottle of wine. :)
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 8 years, 1 month ago
    Well written. The rational interest you reference in your last sentence is in my mind, the love of one man's profession or work and his individual striving and rightful pride in achievement and excellence determined from his own view and done for his own satisfaction and betterment of his own life. My thinking has that definition illustrating the heroic man of Rand's writing,
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years, 1 month ago
    Thanks for the interesting essay. While it is easy to agree with the intention and premise, much of it is not what I would write on the subject.

    For me, the primary books on ancient Greek philosophy are the Loeb Classic Library dual language editions. In the original Greek, Aristotle's statement of Non-Contradiction is somewhat "blockier" or "chunkier" than we render it today. Our powerful English language is 2500 years more advanced than classical Greek.

    For whatever the ancient philosophers claimed, I look to Diogenes Laertius's Lives. For the pre-Socratics, Hermann Diels's Fragmente der Vorsokratiker was updated and translated into English by Kathleen Freeman. Realize that all we have is fragments. Much ancient writing was lost. To gauge how extensive the Christian revolution was, the emperor Claudius wrote a history of the Etruscan people and apparently knew their language. The language and his multi-volume history are both lost to us. If a book written by the first citizen of Rome did not survive, imagine how much more was lost. Most of what we know about Parmenides, Heraclitus, Thales, et al., is second- or third-hand.

    That said, I found basic truths in much of what remains. Parmenides said that the universe had no creator because something cannot come from nothing. Yes, there are many errors, but we do not condemn Benjamin Franklin for writing about electrical "fluid." It was the model that worked for them at that time. So, too, with the ancient Greeks. As much as we admire Aristotle - mostly because of Ayn Rand - realize that we know only reconstructions of his works. When the successors of Alexander fought over his empire, the Macedonian ruling family seized the books (scrolls) of Aristotle, and buried them for safe-keeping. When they were uncovered, they had been eaten by worms. The texts were riddled, and had to be reconstructed. That is why even the best translations we have such as the set by McKeon that Ayn Rand preferred have all those footnotes about possible alternatives.

    Thanks, also, for taking to task our collective worship of the hunter-gatherer. Many Rand Fans believe that we should return to that condition, if only in some modern way, hunting with machine-made guns and wearing machine-made clothing while stalking deer. The City (civilization) is different from that. (And it is not agriculture, either. Agriculture was invented in the city, not the other way around. See The Economy of Cities by Jane Jacobs.)
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