by cappytan 80 Replies latest jw friends
Ayn Rand, the person, interests me very little. The person who designed the chair I sit in so comfortably may have been an asshole; should I sit on the floor instead?
Terry, the topic is asking what our opinion of Ayn Rand is. Also, no, don't sit on the floor. Buy a chair from someone that isn't an asshole :)
My opinion of Ayn Rand is that she was an extraordinary genius with extraordinary flaws. She was always the smartest person around which must have driven her quite mad with frustration. She had a tough time suffering fools.
It has been said that you can arguably judge a person by their enemies. She has legion enemies who froth at the mouth that she dared tilt at their ideological windmills. So be it. I won't defend her, the person. I cannot even defend myself :)
When I was in prison there was a fine fellow (one of the JW's) named Sam Salamy. Sam told me a story about a guy lost in a vast desert who spotted an oasis and made his way to it. With his last dying strength, he crawled across the burning sand under the hot sun, and over to the pool, only to discover there were filthy camels dipping their slobbering mouths into the shimmering oasis of refreshing water. Sam said to me, "Each one of us is like that man. You know how? We sometimes have to decide which is worse, dying of thirst or drinking next to a filthy slobbering camel."
So, I say to you Viviane, Rand may be your encounter at the oasis. Why go thirsty?
My opinion of Ayn Rand is that she was an extraordinary genius with extraordinary flaws. She was always the smartest person around which must have driven her quite mad with frustration. She had a tough time suffering fools.
Mine is that she thought she was the smartest person around with extraordinary flaws on top of that and that, far from suffering fools, she surrounded herself with them and in the end, proved to be one.
So, I say to you Viviane, Rand may be your encounter at the oasis. Why go thirsty?
I have read her books, her philosophy, many personal observations about her. I find nothing of value there. Why assume I am thirsty just because I don't find value in Rand?
Viviane, how do you feel about Mortimer J. Adler's philosophy books such as 10 Philosophical Mistakes?
Both Rand and Adler are Aristotelians. Adler has been the most helpful philosopher to me in my life and Rand, the second.
Quotes by Adler:
“There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Wisdom is fortified, not destroyed, by understanding its limitations. Ignorance does not make a fool as surely as self-deception.”
“The truly great books are the few books that are over everybody's head all of the time.”
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”
“To agree without understanding is inane. To disagree without understanding is impudent.”
“Is it too much to expect from the schools that they train their students not only to interpret but to criticize; that is, to discriminate what is sound from error and falsehood, to suspend judgement if they are not convinced, or to judge with reason if they agree or disagree?”
Five Books to Read by Mortimer J. Adler:
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
Viviane, how do you feel about Mortimer J. Adler's philosophy books such as 10 Philosophical Mistakes?
I've not read it, but I have read his book "How to Think about God". I found it quite overbearing in in trying to tell others what they mean and believe and then knocking that meaning and belief down.
The other, of course, involves orcs.
Fencing: I'm pretty sure the term she used was "Looters."
