Philosophy On One Foot-The Basics of Objectivism by Ayn Rand
Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 4 months ago to Philosophy
During the last week, we've had 2 or 3 posts related to Conservatism vs Objectivism. I ran into this brief reply by Ayn Rand when she was asked if she could explain her philosophy while standing on one foot.
Her entire reply is well worth a read, but the last sentence of her reply is exactly on point to the disagreements expressed by some commenters in those referenced posts:
" Which is why philosophy cannot be discussed while standing on one foot—nor while standing on two feet on both sides of every fence. This last is the predominant philosophical position today, particularly in the field of politics."
That reply was in 1962, but still addresses politics today, particularly here in Galt's Gulch. .
Her entire reply is well worth a read, but the last sentence of her reply is exactly on point to the disagreements expressed by some commenters in those referenced posts:
" Which is why philosophy cannot be discussed while standing on one foot—nor while standing on two feet on both sides of every fence. This last is the predominant philosophical position today, particularly in the field of politics."
That reply was in 1962, but still addresses politics today, particularly here in Galt's Gulch. .
We have never had a complete capitalist system. Today we have a badly mixed system. It does not follow that all systems today are "socialist". Ours is a mixture of freedom and controls. It is no more "socialist" as its essence than "capitalist", with degrees of both; it has socialist aspects to it and capitalist aspects.
Ayn Rand's definition is not "goofy". She gave the reasons for the definition of the concept capitalism in "What is Capitalism?". She also explained why 'anarcho-capitalism' is a floating abstraction with no possible meaning in reality and with no free market possible, not "by definition" capitalism. She did not say, let alone "pretend", that "free market" and "capitalism" are synonyms.
The conceptual understanding and explanations of this are not "rote learning from someone else's book". If you have such condescending contempt for the people here that you pronounce we are not "able to follow the argument, as it requires actual thinking, inductive, objective from reality", then isn't the forum for you to be posting.
Hear Hear
But hang in there and you might get there eventually.
I don't know what "dribble" you are referring to or what it has to do with this thread.
Regardless, lets pretend free market and capitalism are the same words. Then, by definition, the only political system that is fully an economic system of capitalism is by definition systems of anarcho-capitalism. All present commonly used systems think that in some cases, no matter how limited they are; police, fire, roads, they can force people to contribute wealth, time, and life to it to protect others and for the greater good and are, by definition, socialist - for the greater good.
It is not necessary to set up governments this way. Please note I am not an anarcho capitalist, but I expect most people here not to be able to follow the argument, as it requires actual thinking, inductive, objective from reality, as opposed to rote learning from someone elses book.
The dribble that 'if you do not agree with someone you do not understand them', that 'I must agree with a philosophy instead of objective reality', and 'the implied guilt trip and appeal to the masses' is the exact type of immature, non-objective, non reasoning trash I'd expect to find on an open forum as opposed to ones that only are for those using reason and reality - not appeals to authority. I made this objection to the forum when I signed up a year and a half ago.
AR's description of an Individual states it well: "Do not make the mistake of the ignorant who think that an individualist is a man who says: “I’ll do as I please at everybody else’s expense.” An individualist is a man who recognizes the inalienable individual rights of man—his own and those of others.
An individualist is a man who says: “I will not run anyone’s life—nor let anyone run mine. I will not rule nor be ruled. I will not be a master nor a slave. I will not sacrifice myself to anyone—nor sacrifice anyone to myself."
State government by definition includes the idea of initiation of force - even if it only includes simple things like taxation and requiring citizens to be in or outside it's boundaries - but obviously it is much worse in the real world then that - as sacrificing such a basic moral principle at the start would lead.
Furthermore, any non-volunteer actions like that would by definition affect the economy, and therefore not be a complete separation of government and economy, as economists such as Walter Williams love to point out.
Either volunteerism or anarcho-capitalism would seem to fit Ayn Rand's criteria, but she didn't like anarcho-capitalism.
I don't think she was very consistent on this principle. As I am, I note it.
The segment of that broadcast in which she read "one foot" is also used in the Ayn Rand Institute Campus Course series as "Introducing Objectivism" https://campus.aynrand.org/campus-cou... where it is accompanied by video graphics added by ARI.
Reading this book currently, struck me as appropriate for this discussion.
All the articles in The Ayn Rand Column are worth reading. Aside from the full series of 26 columns in the LA Times (and which were also available for syndication), the additional essays include a few from the 1940s.
As newspaper columns the articles were only about 800 words, but "Introducing Objectivism" was still packed with essentials in elaborations of each of the 'standing on one foot' items. A major emphasis in the last half was her contrast between her philosophy as the foundation of a free society versus the ethics and politics of altruism and statism -- which is also especially relevant to your immediate purpose of "That reply was in 1962, but still addresses politics today, particularly here in Galt's Gulch".
Your "counters" remind me of Saul Alinsky's exhortation to "Use their morals against them." in "Rules for Radicals."
If anyone is interested in this or other Ayn Rand manuscripts, please contact me. Michael
http://www.penultimaterarebooks.com/
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