time for a beer break.....
What---if anything---can we learn from AYN RAND'S philosophy?
by Terry 93 Replies latest jw friends
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PSacramento
No, perception in itself does not kill. The risk is that we may mistake our subjective perception for reality, which is objective.
Agreed.
Tell me, have you ever read "in the minds eye"?
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Terry
The funny thing about discussions of "reality" is that nobody ever tests their point of view by calling for a DEMONSTRATION.
I was having a going-nowhere disdussion one day with a New Age person who was saying that REALITY is just an illusion.
She told me that we create our own heaven and hell inside our mind and then fall for the lie by believing it.
We finally changed the subject.
Several years later I bumped into her and she told me that she'd been in a terrible car wreck and had broken most of the major bones
in her body. (She drove a red corvette with dark-tinted windows, you see.)
I nodded and listened.
She looked different, that's for sure.
We chatted about nothing for a bit and she left.
How do you fit something like that in with a BELIEF like hers? Who would "create" that sort of illusion and for what purpose?
Tsk tsk tsk.
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Mall Cop
Terry, according to Ayn Rand there is no such person that can claim that they are Agnostic. I thought that I finally could rest my mind with claiming to be an Agnostic. Ayn has confinced me that I'm not.
She says that we are either on one side or the other and cannot be in the middle. To say we don't know does not make us Agnostic, because that in itself makes the claim that we know.
I puschased the book: The Ayn Rand Lexicon; Objectivism from A to Z. Edited by Harry Binswanger. It's a compilation of over 400 topics, her statements on Philosophy, Economics, Psychology and History.
From there I will go to the individual books.
You once again have given me a wake up from my permafrost brain and mind.
I will be busy for some time now.
Blueblades
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BurnTheShips
OPRAH got all caught up in the bullshit about THE SECRET whereby you "imagine" what you want and it miraculously appears.
"The Secret" is baloney, but you have to believe something is possible first. Then you can do it. It has to start in your mind.
BTS
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Terry
Terry, according to Ayn Rand there is no such person that can claim that they are Agnostic. I thought that I finally could rest my mind with claiming to be an Agnostic. Ayn has confinced me that I'm not.
She says that we are either on one side or the other and cannot be in the middle. To say we don't know does not make us Agnostic, because that in itself makes the claim that we know.
I puschased the book: The Ayn Rand Lexicon; Objectivism from A to Z. Edited by Harry Binswanger. It's a compilation of over 400 topics, her statements on Philosophy, Economics, Psychology and History.
I have all of Rand's books. I agree that you can't be intellectually honest and claim Agnosticism. Not knowing is a deliberate act of NOT taking responsibility for FINDING OUT! I prefer to say that God is UNKNOWABLE because there is no data which can be trusted. As a result, the term: God becomes suspect to the extent it is not something that can be meaningfully discussed. (But, that isn't pithy!) the Ayn Rand Lexicon, in my opinion, is like holding a magnifying glass up to a tiny text and being able to read it for the first time! The details of how our mind creates our knowledge of reality comes into focus and becomes useful. The simple act of defining our premises, our contexts and integrating them into NON-CONTRADICTORY data is miraculous once you get into the habit of doing it.
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BurnTheShips
Galt Bless You Terry!!! I will be with you in His Gulch after the Shruggageddon and the Randroid Rapture!
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PSacramento
That "objectivistparty", are they an off shoot of Rand's legacy?
Some interesting views on that website:
I. INDIVIDUALS HAVE A RIGHT TO LIFE
All human beings have an individual right to life and are born with freedoms based upon this right. These freedoms include one's right to free thought, free action and the freedom to keep what is produced. It is the role of government to protect these rights, but to never encroach upon them. Living in society benefits man only if that society recognizes and protects these rights and freedoms.
II. INDIVIDUALS HAVE A RIGHT TO THEIR OWN THOUGHTS
All human beings have a right to their own thoughts and have the potential to use reason to realize their rational self-interest and to live productive lives. It is the role of government to protect an individual's right to think or act against the initiation of force by others.
III. INDIVIDUALS HAVE A RIGHT TO THEIR OWN PROPERTY
All human beings have a right to their own property and to keep what they produce. This includes the right and responsibility to decide what to do with all that is created. All individuals have a right to trade freely with others. No government should interfere with any transaction or trade involving individuals.
IV. INDIVIDUALS HAVE A RIGHT TO PROTECT THEMSELVES
All human beings have the right to protect themselves from any initiation of force against their rights or liberties. To enhance this individual right, citizens entrust to their government the right to protect them from domestic and foreign threats. As a result, it is a proper role of government to protect a nation's borders and to protect a nation's citizens from other people and/or governments.
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leavingwt
III. INDIVIDUALS HAVE A RIGHT TO THEIR OWN PROPERTY
Our nation is currently having a debate regarding HOW MUCH of our private property we get to keep and how much we must surrender to Uncle Sam.
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mindmelda
Don't you have to have all the facts to make a valid decision based on facts?
I wasn't aware all the facts are in on the God thing, or a lot of other metaphysical questions.
I wonder if the IRS has read Number III up there? They're violating your right to own property and keep what you produce without government interference when they lien it for back taxes.
"We're the IRS...Ayn Rand can bite us. "
